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Document 
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. w ' REPORT OF THE - 

>v 

JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT 

COMMISSION 


APPOINTED PURSUANT TO A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF 
ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT, DATED MARCH 2, 1906, FOR 
THE PURPOSE OF REPORTING UPON THE GENERAL IMPROVE¬ 
MENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF JAMAICA BAY IN THE BOROUGHS 
OF BROOKLYN AND QUEENS, AND ALSO UPON THE CONDITION 
OF THE WATER FRONT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK OTHER 
THAN THAT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 


PHILIP P, FARLEY, President 
WILLIAM G. FORD, Secretary 

JOHN j. McLaughlin 

Commissioners 


SUBMITTED MAY 31, 1907 


February 23, 1909. —Ordered printed as a House 
document, with illustrations 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 









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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES {^No^'lSOfT 


REPORT OF THE 

.^JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT 

COMMISSION 

APPOINTED PURSUANT TO A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF 
ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT, DATED MARCH 2, 1906, FOR 
THE PURPOSE OF REPORTING UPON THE GENERAL IMPROVE¬ 
MENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF JAMAICA BAY IN THE BOROUGHS 
OF BROOKLYN AND QUEENS, AND ALSO UPON THE CONDITION 
OF THE WATER FRONT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK OTHER 
THAN THAT OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 


PHILIP P* FARLEY, President 
WILLIAM G* FORD, Secretary 

JOHN j* McLaughlin 

Commissioners 


SUBMITTED MAY 31, 1907 


February 23, 1909.—Ordered printed as a House 
document, with illustrations 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 








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REPORT OF THE JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


MAJORITY REPORT. 

Office Jamaica Bay Improvement Commission, 

215 Montague Street, BrooMyn, N. Y. 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, 

New Yorlc City. 

Gentlemen: The Jamaica Bay Improvement Commission, ap¬ 
pointed by his honor the mayor on the 26th day of April, 1906, m 
pursuance of the authority contained in a resolution of your board 
dated March 2, 1906, and concurred in by the board of aldermen, 
have the honor to make the following report: 

FACTS LEADING TO THE APPOINTMENT OF THE COMMISSION. 

For some years past those who have been closely identified with 
Jamaica Bay by reason of residence, business, or upland holdings, and 
who have noted the trend of population toward the shores of that 
bay, have been conscious of the financial returns that awaited those 
who should undertake its development. Some of these, more bold 
than the rest, have, at different times, proposed various schemes for 
developing isolated sections of the bay with that end in view. Such 
attempts, almost without exception, have ended in failure, princi¬ 
pally because of the vastness of the territory involved and the large 
amount of money necessary properly to improve the waterways and 
adjacent marshes, so that, with the possible exception of Rockaway 
Beach, which looks toward the bay from the south and is given over 
to the uses of a summer resort, Barren Island, and a few points on the 
north shore of the bay, such as Canarsie and Bergen Beach, Jamaica 
Bay and its environs are in the same primitive condition as when 
Jasper Bankers and his companions visited this region in the last 
years of the seventeenth century. 

Recently, however, others not personally interested in this locality, 
but who had watched the marvelous growth of the port of New York, 
had seen the water front of Manhattan and Brooklyn gradually 
absorbed and noted the enormous improvement in the railway ancl 
.waterway connections under way, realized that if the Greater New 
York was to take full advantage of the valuable opportunities which 
the extension of the city was creating for her she must prepare by 
providing sufficient wharfage at reasonable prices to meet the ever- 
increasing demands of commerce. They belie\ ed they saw latent 
advantages in these waterways of Jamaica Bay and began to point 
out the desirability of opening them up, thus securing for the munici¬ 
pality a useful, subsidiary harbor. 


3 



4 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

Foremost among those holding this opinion was former Comp¬ 
troller Edward M. Grout, and it was owing to his energy that the 
project was brought into concrete shape. In an interesting pam¬ 
phlet addressed to the sinking fund commission he called attention 
to Jamaica Bay and its surroundings and seemed to be convinced 
that by judicious investment the city might make available not only 
its own large holdings in the bay, but, by dredging and reclamation, 
might convert into a vast territory suitable for residence, manufac¬ 
ture, and shipping all of the land now lying waste in that vicinity. 

Tliis pamphlet was issued on November 17, 1905, and as a result 
of it the present commission was appointed, as stated above, on 
April 26, 1906. 

In the mayor’s letter of appointment the commissioners were 
asked to report upon the following questions: 

First. Upon the general improvement and development of Jamaica Bay in the 
boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, along the lines indicated in a communication from 
the comptroller to the commissioners of the sinking fund, together with plans for the 
physical improvement and an estimate of the cost of same; and 

Second. Upon the general condition of the water front of the boroughs of the Bronx, 
Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond, with recommendations as to the points at which 
the city should acquire land for the purpose of building public docks, together with 
such plans as may be made necessary for development of the interior waterways. 

The commission were asked to file their report before December 31, 
1906. 

It will be noted that while, for convenience, this board has been 
known as the Jamaica Bay Improvement Commission, its duties by 
no means ended there, but were much more extensive, involving as 
they did an examination of and a report upon the water front of all 
the boroughs of the Greater New York except Manhattan. 

Since the Jamaica Bay project was by far the larger, if not the 
more important problem, the commissioners felt that they would 
better serve the interests of the city by taking up this matter first 
and leaving the second question until the latter part of their term; or 
at any rate until the necessary data, maps, and plans for Jamaica 
Bay were collected and well under way. This they decided to do, 
and the present report was prepared in accordance with that decision. 

The commission organized on May 8, 1906, and immediately 
ent ered upon their duties, devoting practically all of their time to the 
questions involved. 

The time allowed the commission—six months—wa^ very short, 
and after working upon the plans for that time the commission, real¬ 
izing that the territory to be covered was so extensive, the problems 
so complex and numerous, and the importance so manifest applied to 
the board of estimate for an extension of six months’ time in which to 
hand in their report. This extension was immediately granted by 
resolution of the board of estimate, dated October 26, 1906. 

NECESSITY FOR ADDITIONAL FACILITIES FOR COMMERCE AND MANU¬ 
FACTURE IN THE PORT OF NEW YORK. 

Before proposing any plan for additional water front improvement 
in or around New York Harbor other than the betterment of those 
already in existence, or before even considering the possibilities of 
such an improvement from an engineering standpoint, it is necessary 


REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 5 

to consider the general question as to whether there is now, or likely to 
be in the near future, any demand for increased wharfage facilities. 

To judge from the constant discussion of congested traffic in New 
T ork, both upon the land and water, it would seem unnecessary to go 
very deeply into this question. 

From a general survey of the existing conditions, particularly in 
Manhattan, it will appear that the city has arrived at that point 
where it is necessary for her to reach'out and take advantage of the 
vast amount of water frontage which she possesses in her other bor¬ 
oughs. Notwithstanding the obviousness of this need, this commis¬ 
sion felt that they should examine carefully the present wants of the 
city and its capacity for satisfying them, the rate of increase in popu¬ 
lation, manufacture, shipping (both in the line of imports and exports, 
as well as in local and coastwise trade), and the general effect upon the 
above of improvements under way or contemplated, so that a conclu¬ 
sion should be reached as to the probable demands to be made upon 
the port facilities within the next two decades. 

It might be well to remark here that investments by municipalities 
are to be considered dilTerently from those by individuals. While it is 
questionable wisdom for an individual to invest his money without 
hope of return during that period of his life when it will be of material 
service to him, in the case of cities and States, which are assumed to 
live on interminabY? the opposite principle is the true one. From this 
consideration it follows that it is no false step to purchase and invest, 
not only for immediate needs, but for future contingencies. 

If experience be a wise teacher. New York City needs in this respect 
no further lesson than it has already received through delay in the 
matter of interborough communication. Had it and the old city of 
Brooklyn begun with energy the construction of suitable lines of rail¬ 
way connection, the growth of Brooklyn and Queens, marvelous as it 
has been, would have been immeasurably greater; a considerable por¬ 
tion of Bronx borough, by nature the most beautiful of its possessions, 
would not have been turned into a congested apartment house district, 
with its people forced, morning and night, to pursue a disagreeable, 
crowded route to and from business, and, worst of all, it would not be 
forced to look with chagrin upon a continuous exodus of its people into 
an adjoining State. 

Is there then need at this time for the city to prepare additional 
harbor accommodations? Is it growing in point of population? 
Are its manufacturing industries expanding? Wliat is the status 
of its foreign commerce? 

The commission have caused to be prepared Tables 1 to 10, in¬ 
clusive, which show the advance the city of New York has made in 
population since 1800, as well as its progress in manufacture and its 
increase in foreign trade. That this might appear clearer, there have 
also been prepared charts, which graphically show the growth of the 
city along these lines. These appear on Plates XIV to XVI, inclu- 
ive. 

A study of these tables and charts will readily convince the most 
pessimistic that there is little need to fear New York City’s loss of 
commercial supremacy. For some little time we have heard much 
talk of a steady decline in its commerce, but with a gain of 18.2 per 
cent in five years in her foreign trade, of 30.2 per cent in the same 


6 KEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

time in her manufacturing, and a constant and substantial advance 
in population, we should have less fear of rival ports appropriating 
our trade than of neglecting to provide for what promises to be a 
still further substantial increase in the near future. It is thought 
in some quarters that as regards the export trade, the port of New 
York is losing ground as compared with the South Atlantic and Gulf 
ports. This is more apparent than real, for, while some of this loss 
is due to strong competition on the part of these ports and the rail¬ 
ways entering them, both of which have made large improvements 
in their terminal facilities, the larger part of it is due to the fact that 
much of this trade is made up of materials grown or produced in close 
proximity to these ports and which could not in any case be expected 
to be shipped by way of New York. It must not be forgotten in 
this connection that the vSouthern States are now moving forward 
at a rapid pace in many lines of industry; larger portions of this terri¬ 
tory are being placed under cultivation; the sources of water power 
are being taken advantage of and developed with a resulting increase 
in manufacture. In recent years abundance of petroleum has been 
found in the State of Texas, and all these natural advantages tend 
to increase the foreign trade in the South Atlantic and Gulf ports. 
Much, therefore, of the apparent loss to southern ports from the port 
of New York is due rather to this than to any other cause. New 
York’s real loss in export trade is due, in all probability, to a dis¬ 
crimination in favor of other cities in the matter of railroad rates. 
Since New York possesses decided advantages, both natural and 
otherwise, over many of these seaboard cities in the matter of pro¬ 
vision for ocean line freight carriers, it is scarcely to be hoped that 
any concession will be made to it by the railroad combination, 
owing to the strong opposition of the lines entering these other 
centers. ^ Notwithstanding this fact, we see no particular cause for 
alarm, since the improvements under way on the state canals will 
do much to offset this discrimination. If, however, this port has, 
relatively speaking, lost ground, her actual gains in export trade 
are so large and her supremacy in all other respects so decided that, 
for the purposes of this discussion, we might well rest satisfied. In 
addition, however, we quote from the remarks made by an eminent 
engineer, Mr. Edward P. North, in discussing the question of ''Canals 
from the Great Lakes to New York”:^^ 

Th© population and wGalth of tho port of Now York is not dopendcnt on its exports 
its unique natural position making it the largest “port of call” in the world. This is 
due to Its having two large waterways back of it, viz, the Hudson and East rivers 
Adding to Its natural advantages, the construction of the Erie Canal forced all railroad 
terminals to concentrate here, making its position the best in the world for manufac¬ 
turing, tor here the raw products for manufacture can be assembled and the finished 
material distributed to conpmers at less cost than elsewhere, and both in value of 
mercnandise produced and in amount of wages paid it is peerless. 

This quotation brings forcibly to our attention a fact which is 
more or less generally overlooked by people living in or visiting the 
city of New York. The city is so peculiarly constructed, its indus- 
tries so scattered, and its supremacy as a financial center so marked 
that its position as a manufacturing center is frequently overlooked. 


• oSee Trans. Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. XLV, 257. 








REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


7 


We quote also from a writer in ^^Engineering News/^ September 
10, 1903, who, speaking of New York’s commercial position, sums 
up thus: 

The simple fact is that it is enormously difficult to alter existing channels of trade, 
and that New York’s supremacy as the great gateway to foreign commerce is too firmly 
established to be seriously affected for a very long time to come by any possible change. 

We have digressed thus far merely to make more emphatic the 
statement of New York’s increased general commercial progress , 
and to remove the illusion that its commerce is declining. It is 
more to the purpose of this discussion, however, to determine what 
tonnage New York will have to provide for, say, by 1915—eight 
years hence. A serious obstacle to this arises from the fact that 
almost no statistics at all are available to show the total tonnage of 
the port of New York at the present time; and, furthermore, there 
is no system yet in operation by which the amount of coastwise 
and interior trade can be collected and tabulated. Without this 
knowledge our figures as to manufacture, foreign trade, and popula¬ 
tion may prove interesting, but could scarcely be used to indicate 
the probable commerce to be provided for at the time suggested. 
Fortunately, however, we are able closely to approximate what is 
to be ex})ected in this regard, owing to the fact that Mr. Elmer L. 
Corthell, a civil engineer, well known in connection with river and 
harbor work, and more especially because of his connection with 
the lower Mississippi, took the pains to prepare precisely this data 
for his paper on “Harbors of the World,” read before the Eighth 
International Navigation Congress at Paris, France, in the year 
1900. 

Mr. Corthell states in that paper, not only that the total tonnage 
of the port of New York in 1899 was 79,544,000 tons, but likewise 
makes the precise statement that this is-subdivided as follows: 

Tons. 

Interior. 25,093,000 

Coastwise. 39, 250, 000 

Foreign.. 15, 201,000 

If these figures are correct it would appear that the foreign trade 
of New York constitutes but 19 per cent of the total. It will be 
noted by an inspection of Table No. 5 that the tonnage of foreign 
trade in 1905 had reached the sum of 18,942,380, an increase of 
24.6 per cent in six years, or at the rate of 4.1 per cent per year. 
Owing, however, to the fact that the past few years have been uni¬ 
formly prosperous, it would scarcely be safe to adopt this rate of 
increase for any calculation as to the probable growth in the next 
eight years. It was possible for the commission, however, with the 
aid of tables furnished by the department of commerce and naviga¬ 
tion, to plot the curve of tonnage for the port of New York from 
1853 up to and including 1905. From this curve we would deduce 
that a fair rate of increase upon which to compute the probable 
tonnage for the port of New York would be at the rate or 1.6 per 
cent. Using that rate, therefore, it would appear that in 1915 the 
tonnage of the foreign trade of New York will have reached the sum 
of 21,366,300, and since this is but 19 per cent of the total trade of 





8 


REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


the port, it follows that in 1915 the total figures will reach the large 
sum of 112,454,000. This is on the assumption that the coastwise 
and interior trade is increasing in equal ratio with that of the foreign 
trade. We believe that this is a fair and conservative assumption, 
inasmuch as it is evident that, since the interior and coastwise trade 
forms the larger part of the wdiole, its rate of increase in the past has 
been greater. Using now the figures for 1915, which we have sub¬ 
mitted—112,454,000 tons—it will be noted that in the sixteen years 
from 1899 up to and including 1915 there will have been a gain of 
32,910,000 tons, or 41.3 per cent. There is in addition to this another 
item to be taken into consideration in the determination of the prob¬ 
able tonnage of New York, namely, the increase due to the enlarge¬ 
ment of the state canals. It is expected by those who have given the 
canal question adequate thought, that not only will the enlargement 
of the Erie Canal restore to New York City its former trade in grain, 
but that the metropolis will be benefited by it in very many ways. 
They point out that the discovery of iron-ore beds in the upper lake 
regions, taken in connection with the cheap transportation on the 
lakes, has led Pennsylvania to abandon its own beds and use those 
of the lakes, and they further express their belief that these discov¬ 
eries may lead to the centering of the iron trade in the State of New 
York. 

A report of the committee on canals of New York in 1899 says: 

The possibilities of manufacturing development along the banks of the Niagara 
River, between the falls and Buffalo, should not be overlooked in considering the 
transportation problem. Factories are already established in the vicinity of Niagara 
Falls utilizing the cheap power obtained from the falls to an extent of 75,000 horse¬ 
power, and this will be doubled within a very few years. 

The problem of transmission of power has been so far solved as to permit the lighting 
of Buffalo and the operation of its street-car system at a distance of 22 miles from the 
power house. It is probable that in less than ten years the transmission of power, at 
least as far as Rochester (about 90 miles), will be commercially practicable.® These 
advantages, if properly utilized, will make western New York the center of such a 
rnanufacturing district as the world has never seen. The lakes give cheap transporta¬ 
tion to the West, and it only needs a suitable water route to the Hudson in order to give 
cheap transportation eastward, which will enable these manufactured products to 
compete in every market in the world. 


The estimated capacity of the new Erie Canal has been placed at 
20,000,000 tons. While we have confidence in the great benefits 
that will follow the canal’s completion, still, rather than run risk 
ot exaggeration, we will place the increased tonnage at 10,000,000 
r then, must be added to our previous grand total of 

122,454,000 tons, an increase over 1899 of 
42,910,000 tons, or 53.9 per cent. 

The port of New York, therefore, must provide in 1915 accom¬ 
modation for one and one-half times the amount of shipping for 
which it cared in 1899. ^ ^ ^ 


Before proceeding to determine whether Manhattan will at the 
time specified be m a position to meet the increased demand upon 
its facilities, it might be well to consider for a moment still another 
phase of the question. By consulting Plate XVII and Table No. 
9, the reader will perceive graphically, and by figures, the number 


^ o The report of the canal committee was written in irqq i 








EEPORT OP JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 9 

of ships entering and clearing at the port of New York in the foreign 
trade. To those not in the habit of following the trend of events m 
special lines of industry as, for example, shi})building—it may appear 
reinarkable that whereas the tonnage of foreign trade is growing 
rapidly at a rate greater perhaps than 1.6 per cent yearly, the number 
of ships engaged in that trade has been steadily declining at a rate 
approximating 2 per cent per annum. In the ten years shown in the 
table but one year showed an increase; this was the year 1905, the 
increase being due, in all probability, to the extraordinary prosperity’ 
of the country at that time. These figures do but emphasize a fact 
known to all engineers—that the tendency is for larger and still 
larger vessels. Big vessels are more economical for the shipper and 
manufacturer, and we may expect to see them increase in size until 
they reach the maximum length of 1,000 feet, predicted for them in 
1950 by Sir William White.® This fact is a helpful sign for Man¬ 
hattan, for it is obvious that with longer and fewer boats less 
water front would be needed, provided the piers could be sufficiently 
lengthened and the berths adjusted to the increased width of the 
steamers. Unfortunately, however, Manhattan, notwithstanding 
the efficiency and skill that have characterized the development of its 
water front, is obliged at this time to contend not only with the ill- 
considered early foundation of the water side thoroughfare that for the 
greater part circumscribes its territory, but also to pay a premium for 
its natural advantages, since these are the means of depriving it of 
adequate railway connection. Because of this latter want the port 
of New York has developed an almost perfect system of car floats, but 
with the rather dubious result of being obliged to give up 31 per cent 
of Manhattan’s Hudson River front and 5 per cent of its East River 
front to the various railway companies.^ 

That the city could, by enormous expenditure of money, bring 
about a decided change for the better is granted. With the con¬ 
struction of a terminal railway surrounding the greater part of 
Manhattan, making it possible to connect directly with all piers, by 
the proper segregation of the various carrying lines into the dis¬ 
tricts best adapted to their destination, by the equipment of piers 
with the latest and best freight-handling appliances, so that load¬ 
ing and unloading of cargoes could be accomplished in a minimum 
time, and by providing sufficient storage room on piers or wharves 
with proper shelter, it would be possible that it would need not 
more wharfage, but less. 

Mr. Foster Crowell, C. E., writing in Engineering Magazine,® 
calls attention to the lack of proper appliances in all of the United 
States ports and makes the significant statement that ‘Tn 1896 the 
total tonnage movement of the port of Antwerp was 5,280,669 tons, 
carried in 4,136 steamers and 532 sailing vessels. The tonnage 
movement of New York, with its .fifty miles of quayage, for the 
same year was 13,464,398 tons in 5,494 steamers and 2,949 sailing 
vessels. That is to say, in New York two and one-half times the 
tonnage presumably needed ten times the quayage of Antwerp, or, 

a Past President Inst. C. E,, Great Britain. 

b See paper by Sidney Willet Hoag, jr,, B. S., Proceedings of the Municipal Engineers 
of the city of New York, p. 81, 1905. 

c See Eng. Mag., 1897. 



10 EEPOET OF JAMAICA BAY IMPEOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

to put it somewhat more concisely, the relative efficiency of the 
Antwerp and New York systems are as four to one.” 

It is possible that Manhattan may in time secure its railway over 
a portion of the water front. This was proposed in 1896 and 1897 
by the board of consulting engineers appointed by the dock depart¬ 
ment, but owing to the vigorous opposition made by the representa¬ 
tive engineers of the railroads, nothing was done. The question 
is now being agitated again by the chamber of commerce. Since, 
however, there are some valid objections to the plans from the rail¬ 
road point of view, it is likely to be many years before the necessary 
radical steps will be taken. 

A far worse obstacle stands in the way. Owing to the lack of 
proper warehouse facilities and the impossibility of bridging the 
street that would intervene between them and the water, if they 
were to locate on the water front, the wholesale dealers and manu¬ 
facturers of Manhattan in earlier times sought establishment in 
widely separated parts of the city. This is really one of the reasons 
why New York has never been regarded by the vast majority of 
people as a manufacturing city. 

The merchant or manufacturer, therefore, is obliged to proceed 
to some pier or several (they may be widely separated), secure 
his consignment of material, truck it over miles of city streets to the 
warehouse or factory, unpack it, sort it, make it up, repack, and again 
truck it back to the wharves for shipment. This is all unnecessary 
and uncalled-for labor and results in additional expense not only to 
the manufacturer and consumer, but to the city as a whole as well, 
since it is obliged to make good the wear and tear of streets. In 
addition to this, time and money is constantly lost by the resulting 
congestion of traffic in the city streets, where lines of trucks, the 
full width of the roadway and extending in some instances for two 
blocks from the water-side street, may be seen almost any day. 

A writer in the New York Tribune said recently that the con¬ 
gestion had become so great that merchants are obliged to put one 
truck in line and load it from others. Further on he remarks that 
he counted forty trucks in the line which led to the entrance of 
the south pier of the Morgan line. 

It is from a consideration of this regrettable state of affairs that 
the commission are led to the following conclusions: 

First. That New York can do much to improve the facilities of 
Manhattan by the introduction of more piers of modern construc¬ 
tion, similar to those in the Chelsea district, by installing first-class 
freight-handling appliances, and by building a terminal railway, 
making it possible to directly connect steamer and car. 

Second. That while it niay, by putting into effect the above sug¬ 
gested improvements, retain and encourage for Manhattan the com¬ 
mercial and manufacturing industries already located there, it is in 
no position, by reason of its physical layout, the lack of available 
unimproved water front giving sufficient pier lengths, and the exces¬ 
sive cost of land in direct connection with the water, to offer tempting 
inducernents to newcomers, who, for other obvious reasons, are only 
too anxious to settle in this vicinity. 

Why should it not then avail itself of the extensive shore line of 
its other boroughs and make use of the natural advantages which 
they have to offer? At a comparatively small outlay it could make 


IIEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 11 

much of this frontage fit for occupancy, thereby increasing its reve¬ 
nue and at the same time relieving Manhattan of much of that class 
of traffic which tends to congest not only its streets but its adjacent 
waterways. 

The water fronts of the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, 
and Kichmond comprise over 404 miles. Of these 106 miles are in 
the Bronx, 133 in Brooklyn, 116 in Queens, and 51 in Kichmond. 
Of this amount the city owns 5.8 miles in the Bronx, 1.45 miles in 
Brooklyn, 0.08 mile in Queens, and 0.03 mile in Richmond.^ A 
large portion of the remainder, especially in Brooklyn, is already 
highly developed and is not easily attainable by the municipality, 
except at great cost. Other portions, on account of the hydro- 
graphic and topographic features, are not susceptible of extensive 
improvement, while still others abut against lands yet in so primitive 
a condition that at this time it is impossible to determine what sort 
of improvements would best suit the future demands. There remain, 
after deducting these, many places where investment by the city 
may be profitably made. A discussion of these localities will follow 
later, as was explained in an earlier part of this report, it being the 
purpose of the commission to treat first of Jamaica Bay and the 
possibilities of its development. We should like to make a slight 
digression, however, for the purpose of calling attention to the 
shores of New Jersey. 3 hese, as is well known, are extensive, but 
all, except that which is already well developed On the Hudson River, 
between the Central I’ailroad of New Jersey piers and the Erie 
Railroad piers north of Hoboken, and on the north shore of the Kill 
van Kull from Constable Hook to Bergen Point, have natural dis¬ 
advantages. North of Hoboken the land rises abruptly from the 
shore, leaving only a marginal strip capable of development, while 
from the Central Railroad terminal south the whole Bayonne penin¬ 
sula, as far as the Standard Oil Company’s possessions at Constable 
Hook, is handicapped by low w^ater for a distance of over 2 miles 
from the shore. The shores of Newark Bay are under the same 
disadvantage, except at isolated points like Elizabethport, where a 
channel of moderate depth offers some relief. It would not appear, 
therefore, that New York had much to fear in the way of rivalry 
from its adjoining State, for it will be difficult for New Jersey to 
make any extensive improvements of its water front except by 
great expenditure. It is, nevertheless, a fact that as a manufactur¬ 
ing center it is growing at a rapid rate and that, further, some of its 
advance is due to emigration of industries once located in this city. 
Inquiries made by this commission in the vicinage of the Atlantic 
basin reveal the fact that several large and important industries, for 
a long time located in the Borough of Brooklyn, had moved into 
quarters in New Jersey, principally on account of better facilities. 
Recently a public official of this city, himself a large manufacturer, 
made the statement that he had moved two of his factories to Newark 
for the same reasons. 

The one thing that makes New Jersey attractive to the manufac¬ 
turer is the presence of the railroads. There is abundance of low 
waste lands to be had cheaply and upon which factories can be eco- 

aSee paper by Sidney Willet Hoag, jr., B. S., Proceedings of Municipal Engineers 
of the City of New York, p. 60, 1905. 




12 EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

nomically built. To these railroads gladly run whatever spurs are 
necessary, so that the raw material and finished products are taken 
to and from the very doors of the plant. Could New York offer 
investors accommodations such as these it would not need to fear the 
loss of trade nor would there by any doubt that hundreds would 
avail themselves of the opportunities thus created for them. The 
fact that in one season thirty manufacturers filled the one completed 
model factory building located at the Bush Terminal Company's 
plant at South Brooklyn and that others were housed in temporary 
quarters near by until a second building could be erected is sufficient 
proof of the results that may be anticipated from a wise and proper 
expenditure of city funds in a right development of the water front. 

That Jamaica Bay possesses many of the natural characteristics 
adapted to this purpose, and that it is extensive enough and has 
frontage enough to serve not only the purposes of general commerce 
but the purposes of recreation and residence as well, we are abso¬ 
lutely convinced. There are, however, difficulties to be overcome, 
and it is right and advisable that a clear and impartial statement of 
these difficulties be made. This statement is presented in the pages 
that follow. 

DESCRIPTION OF JAMAICA BAY. 

This bay, by reason of its popularity as a resort for fishermen, as 
well as by its close proximity to Manhattan Beach, Rockaway Beach, 
and other seaside places, may perhaps not seem to require a general 
description, but since we shall have occasion to refer at times to its 
location with reference to other points in the harbor of New York, a 
few words in this regard may prove of service. That this might more 
easily be followed, we have prepared and reproduced on Plate XVIII 
not only the large scale map of the bay as it now is, but also, to a 
much smaller scale, an dutline of New York and its environs, which 
for convenience we have had printed on the lower right-hand corner 
of the same plate. In regard to the large map it may be well to say 
a word or two. At the very outset of the work in connection with 
Jamaica Bay a thorough investigation into the matter of existing 
maps of Jamaica Bay was made with the hope of finding one suffi¬ 
ciently accurate upon which to lay down a proposed scheme of 
improvement. Unfortunately, as far as the saving of time is con¬ 
cerned, nothing was found complete enough for use. The Coast and 
Geodetic Survey had made an accurate chart of the interior of the 
bay in 18/7, and had, in addition, in 1895 and 1902, made new sur¬ 
veys of that portion near the inlet. The department of docks and 
ferries had, in 1905, made a survey of all of Rockawav Beach and a 
small portion of the north shore of the bay near Spring Creek. The 
north shore adjacent to the twenty-sixth ward had been mapped by 
Noyes S. Palmer; while in Queens County the meadow lands in the 
old town of Jamaica Bay had been surveyed and mapped by Evans 
Brothers. There was, however, no map of the entire bay in exist- 
upon which reliance could be placed. In fact, a large portion of 
the West Meadows, forming an extensive acreage, had never been 
mapped at all. It was decided, therefore, to prepare a new map from 
the most reliable existing data and from original surveys. This was 


REl’OHT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


13 


done, and in the preparation of the new map use was made of inh*; ina- 
tion kindly f urnished by the Federal Government and by various city 
departments. 

From the Coast and Geodetic Survey w^e received cojiies of every 
survey of Jamaica Bay, and portions thereof, from 1835 to the present 
time. 

Tiie department of docks and ferries supplied maps of Kockaway 
Beach, portions of the shore line of Gerritson^s Creek, and sections of 
the meadow near Broad Channel station. 

The Kings County topographical bureau placed at oiir disposal the 
recently completed traverse of the entire street system in the thirty- 
second and twenty-sixth wards. 

The Q eens County topographical bureau furnished blueprir^'*i 
of their plane-table sheets which showed at a glance ail the topo- 
gra])hic features of the land adjacent to the bay east of the division 
line betw^een Kings and Q^’eens counties. 

We were able to get prints of the recent survey of Rockaw^ay 
Inlet through the courtesy of Col. C. D. Lockwood, U. S. Army, in 
charge of the New York office of the army engineers. 

When all ot this data was compiled it was found that certain por¬ 
tions WO' Id have to be located, and this w as done under the direct 
supervision of the commission. This work included all of what are 
known as the '‘Broken Meadows’’ in the west portion of the bay. 
Barren Island, all of Point Breeze, Rockaway Point, portions of the 
north shore near the head of the bay, and portions of Edgemere and 
Vernam Park on Rockaway Beach. This w^ork was done by occupy¬ 
ing the shore line with a sextant and reading angles on government 
triang' lation stations and other secondary signals “cut in” by the 
commission. These notes w^ere later plotted with a three-point 
protractor. In addition to this, about two hundred soundings were 
taken thro'^gh the meadow to hard bottom to determine the depth 
of the mud, with the idea of estimating the probable settlement 
under a heavv sand fill. With this information the map presented 
herewith on Plate XVIII w^as prepared, and w^e feel that, while it 
was prepared hurriedly, it is, notw'ithstanding some defects, at 
least sufficiently accurate upon which to base the more or less general 
concl' sions obliged to be drawn. 

By reference to the map, it will be noted that Jamaica Bay occu¬ 
pies the major portion of the southeast quarter of Greater New 
York. It has a water surface of 16,170 acres, or 251 square miles, 
and is surrounded on three sides by low marshes which aggregate 
8,500 acres. In addition to this there are 4,200 acres of marsh land 
lying in the bay, but isolated from the main body, so that, all told, 
Jamaica Bay, with its adjacent marsh lands, wliich in time of excess¬ 
ive flood tides are completely overflowed, covers a territory 28,870 
acres in extent. This is equivalent to 45^ square miles. 

On this southerly side Jamaica Bay is bounded by the long, low 
sand dunes, known at their easterly and central portions as Rocka¬ 
way Beach; and at their westerly end as Rockaway Point. As you 
pass up the bay, following the north shore of this beach, you pass, in 
succession, various colonies,, all on Rockaway Beach but having local 
names. From west to east these would read: Belle Harbor, Rock¬ 
away Park, Seaside, Hollands, Hammels, Arverne, Edgemere, and 


14 REPUKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMibSION. 

Far Rockaway. Many of these eettiements, especially near Ham- 
mels and Hollands, are closely built up, while the more westerly and 
easterly portions, made up, as they are, of better and higher class 
buildings, are more sparsely settled; as a matter of fact, however, 
they are growing at a more rapid rate. Far Rockaway, with its 
summer population, has the appearance of a moderate-sized city. 
The permanent population of the fifth ward of Queens County, wliic i 
is comprised of the above-mentioned suburbs was, in 1905, 9,926, a 
gain in five years of 2,733, or 38 per cent—a rate of increase about 
double that of the city as a whole. The summer population has been 
estimated at 100,000. Far Rockaway, taken with Lawrence and 
Inwood, suburban settlements in Nassau County, form the mam 
eastern boundary of the bay. From this point, around a deep cove 
known as the Head of the bay and looking to the east and north for 
a mile or more, the eye meets with a broad expanse of meadow, with 
here and there a few dwellings used by summer residents. 

Jamaica Bay is bounded on the north by the meadows lying in the 
old town of Jamaica in Queens County and by the twenty-sixth and 
thirty-second wards in Kings County. The only settlements of note 
upon this shore are at Canarsie, which is quite popular with fisher¬ 
men and where quite an extensive oyster business is centralized, and 
at Bergen Beach, which is given up to the uses of a pleasure resort. 
A boardwalk has been built along its east side, and on the land side 
various amusement buildings have been erected. 

On the west side of the bay there is nothing but marsh land. 
To the north of the main entrance of the harbor is Barren Island, 
whose southern portion, having within the last fifty years been 
exposed to the direct action of the sea, is, in reality, a sand beach. 
Here the garbage and much of the city refuse is disposed of, resulting 
in quite an extensive movement of vessels in and out of Rockaway 
Inlet. 

On the maps attached are seen the principal lines of railroad and 
electric cars. The Rockaway Beach branch of the Long Island 
Railroad leaves the main line at Woodhaven, and, running slightly 
east of south to the bay, which it crosses on a temporary trestle 
(advantage being taken of the marshes in the bay), touches the 
beach first at Hammels. At this point the road branches off to the 
east and west, the latter proceeding as far as Rockaway Park, the 
former passing through Arverne and Edgemere and continuing 
through Far Rockaway and Lawrence, makes the circuit back to 
the main line. There are two drawbridges in the trestle, one at 
Broad Channel station, having a clear opening 50 feet wide; the 
other at Beach Channel station, with a clear opening 50 feet wide. 
The Long Island Railroad also have a line running from Long Island 
City, thence by way of Vesta avenue to New Lots avenue, at which 
point it crosses the head of Fresh Creek, a tributary of Jamaica Bay. 
From New" Lots avenue and Vesta it proceeds westerly to the ter¬ 
minal yards now being prepared at Sixty-fifth street and New York 
Bay. A branch runs to Manhattan Beach,, and this line has been 
known by that name. Attention is particularly called to this line 
tor two reasons; first, because this road is the existing portion of 
what IS knoTO as the connecting railroad which is to ioin the Penn- 
sylvama and New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad systems, 
and winch, being a line intended for freight, needs but the necessarv 
spurs and yards to open up to Jamaica Bay a world commerce; and, 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 15 

second, because near the curve at New Lots and Vesta avenues it is 
in touch, as has already been said, with Fresh Creek at the present 
time. No argument is required to show the advantage of such inti¬ 
mate interconnection. It is expected that this road can be com¬ 
pleted in four years from the time the legal authority to proceed with 
the work is received. 

Of the hummocks, or islands, in the interior of the bay, there are a 
few which have a comparatively large number of inhabitants, especially 
during the summer months. Particularly is this true along the line 
of the railroad where the accommodations are good and offer induce¬ 
ments which add to the pleasures of the bay. 

The shore line of Jamaica Bay will roughly approximate 25 miles. 
This does not include the distance around the separated hummocks 
in the bay, since any plan calling for the development of the bay along 
economic lines would necessarily group these; but with the small 
creeks or waterways closed off and filled in and the principal channels 
laid down, the amount of wharf room available would be close to 100 
miles, not taking into account the additional amount secured by the 
erection of suitable piers. 

In a discussion of a plan for the improvement of the bay, the follow¬ 
ing figures might be instructive: An 8-mile circle, with the New York 
City Hall as a center, would pass through the head of Gerritsons Creek, 
through Bergen Beach and Canarsie Landing. 

The 10-mile circle would pass just north of Barren Island, while the 
11-mile circle would cut Kockaway Point at the inlet. 

The distance from Rockaway Point to Sandy Hook headland is 6f 
sea miles. These points form the pass through which all the ebb 
waters of the upper and lower bays of New York Harbor, including 
those of Jamaica Bay, the Hudson River, and a large portion of the 
East River, are obliged to go on their way to the sea. 

A steamer approaching Ainbrose Channel from the sea would travel 
8f sea miles to Canarsie Landing, 13| miles to the Bush piers, and 18| 
miles to the new city piers in the Chelsea district. 

The center of population in the twenty-sixth ward, which had a 
population by the census of 1905 of 94,150, and was growing at the 
rate of 8^ per cent yearly, is but 2 miles from the north shore of 
Jamaica Bay and but 1 mile from the head of Fresh Creek at the point 
where the Long Island Railroad crosses that waterway. 

The old town of Jamaica, with a population in 1905 of 42,817, and 
growing at the rate of about 8 per cent, is about 3^ miles from the 
north shore of the bay. 

In the old town of Flatlands, now the thirty-second ward of the 
Borough of Brooklyn and forming part of the iDoundary of Jamaica 
Bay, Avenue N, the southerly street of the closely built up section, is 
but six city blocks from the head of Mill Creek, measured along the 
main thoroughfare, Flatbush avenue. This ward had a population 
of 13,232 in 1905, and the rate of increase was 60 per cent in five years, 
or 12 per cent per year. 

The twenty-ninth ward, abutting on the thirty-second ward on the 
north, contained, in 1905, 43,127 people; while in 1900 it had but 
27,188, showing an increase of 15,939 in five years, or at a rate of 
11.7 per cent. 

The statements made above in regard to population in the different 
localities are based upon the United States census reports. For 
complete data as to the population in the various wards of Brooklyn 


16 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

and Queens, we would refer those interested to the tables accom¬ 
panying this report. IVe have Quoted in the text only those figures 
which have a particularly strong bearing upon the matter in hand. 

We have previously stated that the area of the water surface 
in Jamaica Bay is 16,170 acres. This included the water surfaces 
of Gerritsons Creek, Mill Creek, and the smaller creeks tributary 
to Dead Horse Inlet, the water from which is eventually discharged 
into the ocean by-way of Rockaway Inlet. 

The water in Jamaica Bay, judged from the standpoint of utility, 
is for the most part shallow; for while there are several channels 
meandering through it, they are lost before reaching the surrounding 
shores, where they might be of possible advantage. 

Entering Rockaway Inlet, we find very deep water between the 
point of beach and Barren Island, the gorge here having in places 
a depth of 50 feet, as shown upon the last official reports. It is 
through this gorge that the main body of water in Jamaica Bay 
enters and discharges twice each day. Passing the easterly point 
of Barren Island, the main channel divides into two smaller ones; 
one, by name. Big Channel, proceeding almost due north to a point 
opposite the southerly end of Bergen Beach, where it deflects con¬ 
siderably to the eastward and disappears in the shallows south of 
Spring Creek; the other, continuing on an easterly course along the 
north shore of Rockaway Beach and known as Beach Channel, 
maintains a depth approaching 25 feet as far as Hollands. From 
this point the channel, taking a course more nearly northeast, 
passes the trestle of the Long Island Railroad opposite Hammels, 
with a depth approximating 10 feet, until off Arverne. From this 
point on the channel is known as Grass Hassock Channel, and has 
a depth of 6 feet by Edgemere, Far Rockaway, Inwood, and well 
into the head of the bay. 

From Beach Channel branch two others. One of these. The 
Raunt, leaves the main body at a point which is opposite the west 
end of Belle Harbor, the newest settlement on the beach. The 
Raunt has an average depth of 8 feet and in many places more, as 
far as the trestle of the Long Island Railroad; it eventually joins 
Broad Channel at a point about 200 feet east of the Raunt station. 
The second branch of Beach Channel is Broad Channel, a very 
important waterway, as, even under the present conditions, use 
might be made of it for boats of moderate draft. There is in 
Broad Channel at least 10 feet of water at mean low tide, up to the 
point where it is joined by the waters of the Raunt. From here a 
depth of about 8 feet is indicated on the chart to a point a few hun¬ 
dred feet off the shore at Idlewild. The intervening distance between 
the end of the channel, as indicated, and the dock at Idlewild has 
been dredged to provide filling for the marshes at this point, so that 
the channel referred to provides at the present time access to the 
land'. ^ We have been informed that the lumber used in the con¬ 
struction of the Idlewild bulkhead, as well as all the coal used by 
the pile-driver engines, was brought into this place by boat. We 
might call attention here to the fact that there is a 16-foot road in 
use from Idlewild up to the Rockaway turnpike, makjng it possible 
to convey building material, coal, and supplies of all kinds to the 
farmers and householders in adjacent localities. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 17 

Aside from this one j)lace and Eockaway Beach, where the demands 
of a growing community compelled the projection of piers out into 
deep water, there is but one other place on the mainland available 
for shipping; this is Canarsie Landing. To this place the Govern¬ 
ment excavated a channel about 150 feet wide and 6 feet deep at 
mean low water from the landing to the big channel, and protected 
the outer ends of this by two dikes. At the present time there are 
but 5 feet of water in this' channel, although the business done here 
in the oyster trade alone amounts annually to 450,000 tons. At the 
head of Mill Creek, the National Lead Company has one of its sub¬ 
sidiary plants, but the water leading to it is so shallow that boats 
only reach it at high water. At a point opposite the lead company’s 
works, John E. Corbin has inclosed a large section of meadow land 
by a bulkhead, has filled this with dredgings from the creek, and 
expects to erect there a large lumber mill, for the purpose of supplying 
the rapidly growing Flatbush section. 

The mean range of tide at various points in Jamaica Bay is as 


follows: 

Feet. 

At the entrance (Rockaway Inlet). 4. 78 

At Canarise Landing. 4. 44 

At Seaside. 4. 63 


The figures for Eockaway Inlet were taken from data furnished 
by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, while those for Canarsie Landing 
and Seaside were furnished by the department of dock and ferries. 

POSSIBILITIES OF JAMAICA BAY AS A COMMERCIAL AND MANUFAC¬ 
TURING CENTER AND AS A PLEASURE GROUND FOR THE PEOPLE 

OF GREATER NEW YORK. 

t 

Keeping in view, then, the details already given and referring 
when necessary to the maps attached, we pass to a serious considera¬ 
tion of the possibilities of Jamaica Bay as a harbor and as a com¬ 
mercial and manufacturing center. 

There are certain essential characteristics necessary for a good 
harbor. One of these, and by far the most important, is the entrance. 
It is absolutely essential that there shot Id be a good fixed channel 
entering a harbor. This channel should be sufficiently deep to 
accommodate the demands of the locality. Without such a channel 
all other characteristics, both natural and artificial, embodying, tor 
example, elaborate piers and wharves, with up-to-date freight¬ 
handling appliances, perfect shelter, and railway connections, would 
be of little value. 

It is therefore this question of the entrance channel to Jamaica 
Bav with which we are most concerned. It is the vital issue involved 
in the improvement. Without this being assured no movement 
toward the development of the bay, except such as would call for 
small expenditures in the interest of local communities or for the 
purpose of providing water-side parks and pleasure grounds for the 
use of the city, should be encouraged. 

We are fully aware that the money necessary to provide and 
maintain this entrance should, as a matter of course, come from the 
Federal Government and that, in view of this fact, the duty of rec- 


H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—09-2 






18 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION.' 

ommending the form and method of its improvement will devolve 
upon the United States Army engineers. Notwithstanding this fact, 
however, we feel that, by reason of our position as employees of the 
city of New York, retained for the special purpose of proposing such 
plans as would best serve its interests, we would fad m our plain 
duty if we did not enter into this question fully and conscientiously 
and make a clear and impartial report upon the matter. 

We feel, however, that such action upon our part is at this time 
the more i;rgent, in view of the fact that the War Department, m its 
recent report on Rockaway Inlet, after showing (and rightly in our 
opinion) the impracticability of maintaining a dredged channel 
across the bar at the entrance, without further argument other than 
to quote from a report made thirty years ago by the late General 
Newton, concluded that no method of improvement by works was 
possible except at prohibitive cost. 

We disagree so absolutely with this contention that we can not 
too forcibly state our position. In order to make ourselves clear upon 
this point, we will first outline what appears to us to be a feasible plan 
for the improvement of the inlet and follow this with an argument 
showing that it is practicable and comparatively inexpensive. 

The plan suggested is: 

First. To build a rubblestone jetty about 7,500 feet long from the 
extreme west edge of Rockaway Point at the mean high water mark 
out to the 24-foot contour. This jetty is to take a direction due south 
from the point, is to be of gradually increasing cross section as it goes 
seaw^ard, and is to have a wide berm on the channel side to prevent 
scour. The crest of the jetty is to be maintained throughout slightly 
above high tide level. 

Second. When the groin formed by the jetty and the shore line of 
Rockaway Beach shall have partially been filled by the extensive 
sand flow from the east, and before it threatens to pass around the 
end of the jetty into the channel, it is proposed to erect groins of 
light timbers, so arranged as to be built up in tiers from 4 inches to 
6 inches in height as needed; these to be at frequent intervals along 
the beach to the eastward of the jetty and to extend from half-tide 
line out to low-water line. The upper edges of these groins are to be 
parallel to the natural curved surface of the beach. These will serve 
the double purpose of tripping the sand as it passes westward along 
the beach and of building out the foreshore and relieving the jetty 
from much of its storage work. It will, in addition, strengthen the 
beach against a possible outbreak of the Jamaica Bay waters at the 
weak places between Roxbury and Simons. The number of these 
groins will be increased in an easterly direction, built higher and 
toward the sea as fast as the accumulating sand shall make these 
operations necessary. 

Third. For the purpose of taking advantage of the full tidal waters 
of the bay, including those which pass by way of Dead Horse Inlet, 
we propose that a second jetty to the southwest from the easterly 
(^ge of Point Breeze be built. This would direct the waters from 
Dead Horse Inlet into the main body and would impel them both 
to use the southerly channel. This jetty should be of preserved 
tinmer and would, in fact, be but a continuation of the bulkhead to 
be built along the line indicated on the west side of Dead Horse Inlet, 
but would be ot stronger construction. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 19 

Fourth. In addition to this, we propose that the bulkhead line on 
the southwest corner of Barren Island be established as indicated on 
the plan (PL XIX) and that the bulkhead be built at the same time 
as the jetty opposite. 

Fifth. We propose that the bulkhead line on the north shore of 
Rockaway Beach be established as on the plan (PL XIX) and that 
the bulkhead be built and the several low places along the beach be 
filled in at the time of the general improvement. This is to prevent 
danger of washouts.” 

In support of the above method of improvement, we submit the 
following: 

All harbors may be grouped into two classes known as '^fiords,” 
which are narrow arms of the sea, and ^Tnlets” or breaks through 
what is sometimes called the ^‘cordon” of sand, wliich in most of 
the southerly portions of the United States surrounds our coast. 

Fiords,” having large openings where they join the sea, are seldom 
obstructed by bars, but it is invariably the case with inlets that a 
crescent-shaped bar obstructs the entrances, limiting the draught of 
vessels using such harbors, and that a deep gorge appears at or just 
inside the mouth, due to the scouring effect had upon a restricted 
passage by the total tidal prism. 

It is held by some writers that the bar at the entrance to inlet 
harbors is caused by the piling up of the material which at one time 
formed the bottom of the gorge. By others the bar is supposed to be 
merely a submerged portion of the general cordon which would im¬ 
mediately build up, rise out of the water like any other sand beach, 
and shut up the inlet, were it not for the forces exerted upon it by 
the huge Tidal volume twice entering the bay each day and twice 
leaving it. 

Jamaica Bay, then, is an inlet harbor and possesses the usual gorge 
and its accompanying bar, limiting the draught of vessels entering. 

The truth about the bar formation, in all probability, lies between 
the two theories just advanced. That it was originally formed as a 
portion of the outlying ridge of which Rockaway Beach and Coney 
Island are now the salient portions can scarcely be doubted, but from 
its location one is led to believe that the force of the concentrated 
ebb currents had pushed it out of its original position and in addition 
had, when its carrying capacity was lessened beyond the mouth of 
the gorge, dropped upon the crest of the bar some of the material 
picked up upon the way. Whatever be the truth, however, the fact 
remains that the bar practically remains constant as to size, its loca¬ 
tion changing somewhat under the stress of varying forces. 

Across the bar at Jamaica Bay there is a channel of greatest 
depth and width, which is the result of the action of the ebb currents. 
This has during the past seventy years varied somewhat as to its 
direction, swinging from a point about 20 degrees east of south to a 
point just west of due south. From a study of all the available maps 
and data now in existence and which, to the best of our knowledge, 
extend from the year 1841 up to the present time, it would appear 
that during the greater part of this time the channel has been almost 
due south, with its outer end in almost every case slightly turned to 
the eastward in the direction of the outgoing tides. 

This channel, having been caused by the scour produced by the 
concentrated force of the ebb tide, is therefore proportioned to the 


20 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


volume it is obliged to carry, but since this is variable, depending as 
it does upon the state of the tides, there are times, especially during 
a combination of stormy weather with spring tides, when the channel 
is not sufficiently large. At such times there is an overflow which 
spreads out to the westward as far as the opposing waters from the 
upper harbor vdll permit. This overflow is large enough to prevent 
the bar to the westward from growing to full height, but is not 
enough to scour out a very deep or a very constant channel in that 
direction. 

Inasmuch as there are no fresh-water streams emptying into 
Jamaica Bay, there is little likelihood that much silt finds its way 
through the gorge to the bar. This being the case, one is perhaps 
surprised that the immense flow of water from Jamaica Bay, amount¬ 
ing during an average tide to 3,170,800,000 cubic feet or to 23,717,- 
600,000 gallons and strong enough to gouge out the sand bottom to 
a depth of fifty feet in the gorge, has not long ago cut a channel 
sufficiently wide and deep to accommodate all the demands of a 
large commerce. It is highly probable that such action would result 
were it not for the fact that an opposing agency is constantly at work 
tending to build up and replenish the bar which the ebb tide tends to 
destroy. 

On Plate I is shown a map which illustrates the phenomenal 
growth of Rockaway Point to the westward. It will be noted that 
when the first official survey of which we have any record was made 
the inlet was east of Barren Island, the tidal flow being between that 
island and the end of Rockaway Beach as it was at that time. This 
was in 1835. Surveys were also made in 1841, 1855, 1877, 1881, 
1885, 1902, and 1906. Each of these shows a large accretion on the 
west side of the point. This growth has not been constant, some 
intervals showing a much greater rate of growth than others, due in 
some measure to the predominating location of the south, or main 
channel, during that period. The advance westward was doubtless 
slower, and there was an accretion on the south edge of the beach 
when the channel had a tendency to keep east of south. The move¬ 
ment westward was fast during those times in which the channel 
was forced to swing farther to the westward. Whatever the accre¬ 
tion in any particular year, however, the aggregate movement for the 
seventy years (1835-1905) was 16,250 feet, or at the great rate of 
232 feet per year. 

This growth is due to an alongshore or littoral movement of sand, 
which tends to accumulate at the end of the beach toward which it 
flows and to encroach upon the east side of the channel. This would, 
in fact, close the latter were it not for the effective work of the ebb 
currents. The channel, instead of closing, simply moves westward 
in advance of the beach under the pressure from the east. This 
same condition prevails on all coasts of like formation, but not always 
to the same extent. 

To account for this littoral current there have been advanced two 
different theories. The first, which may be termed the Nodal the¬ 
ory, is to the effect that along every coast there is a constant move¬ 
ment of sand in one direction, due, as the author of the theory says, 
to the tidal wave which, impinging upon the salient points on the 
shore, is broken up into component parts which are deflected into the 
bays on either side. The second theory is that the sand movement 
is caused by wind-created waves, the sand moving at one time in one 



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KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 21 

way and at other times in the opposite, the beach, however, advanc¬ 
ing in the direction of the predominating wind. 

For the treatment of most inlets a discussion of these theories 
would be extremely necessary, since the location of jetties, especially 
where one only is to be used, is based upon the resultant direction of 
the drift. To properly locate the jetty it is necessary to know 
whence comes the sand. Fortunately for the improvement of llock- 
away Inlet this question will not arise, since it will be admitted by 
the advocates of Doth theories that the movement there is decidedly 
from the east. A glance at the harbor chart shows that Rockaway 
Beach is only exposed to strong seas from the south and from the 
southeast, so that under the wind-wave theory the movement would 
be westward. The waves created by southeast winds blowing, as 
they do, over a comparatively small body of water, would have little 
effect, even were there any material which they might erode and 
carry. Under the cotidal theory the carrying is done by the flood 
tide, and here at Rockaway Inlet, as can readily be seen from the 
formation of the adjoining shores, this tide can only cause a west¬ 
erly movement. Furthermore, when we recall the large advance 
made yearly by the point, not in jumps or bounds, first one way then 
another, but constantly in one direction, there can be little reason to 
doubt whence the sand is derived nor to fear any but trifling drifts 
from the west. 

We are now acquainted with two of the forces constantly at work 
molding the entrance to Jamaica Bay. At most inlets these would be 
the only forces to be considered, but in this particular locality there 
is another, and in calling attention to it we would suggest that the 
outline map of New York and its environs on the lower right-hand 
corner of Flate XVIII be studied carefully. It will at once be ob¬ 
served that wdiile the Narrows is the real entrance to New York Har¬ 
bor, there is in addition a wide and outer entrance, with Sandy Hook 
on the south flank and Rockaway Point on the north. Through this 
passage enter the tidal waters of the upper bay, of Jamaica, Newark, 
Raritan, and Sandy Hook bays; through this opening pass out all of 
the above waters, with the addition of that contributed by the Hud¬ 
son River, part of the East River, the Raritan, Rahway, Passaic, and 
Hackensack rivers, so that at the very moment that the waters of 
Jamaica Bay begin to ebb in a direction somewhat south of west they 
encounter this immense body, of water from the Narrows, and, nat¬ 
urally, at the earliest possible opportunity after being released, they 
turn, join the main body, and pass out to sea. It is this fact that has 
causea the best and deepest channels to Jamaica Bay to take a south¬ 
erly course. It is this fact, too, and one which is very much to the 
point, that will forever prevent the maintenance of a good channel 
to the westward, for, assuming that a channel were dug along the 
only westerly line deemed feasible by the army engineers in their 
report, it is safe to predict that the waters of Jamaica Bay would fol¬ 
low such an artificial course for a short time only, and that, following 
their natural bent, they would immediately scour out a new channel 
to the southward. 

From what we have stated above, we are led to conclude that 
whatever means are used to provide or maintain a constant entrance 
channel, the latter, in direction at any rate, should be to the south¬ 
ward. We would be led to conclude this as a resultant of the forces 
at work, and we fiind ample corroboration in the various positions 


22 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

maintained by the channel at the seven different times when records 
were available. This is shown on Plate II, to which we have pre¬ 
viously had occasion to refer. 

We have said that the presence of a bar in front of Kockaway Inlet 
is no unusual phenomenon, since the entrance to all inlet harbors are 
obstructed in like manner. There are, however, many harbors of this 
description which have already undergone treatment because the com¬ 
merce of the country adjacent to them demanded their improvement. 
These have not all met with the same degree of success; some, in fact, 
after years of striving and the expenditure of large sums of money 
over and above the original estimates, might even now be termed 
failures. 

The lessons learned during these struggles, however, may prove 
beneficial to the works to be taken up in the future. The methods 
used in the past for the improvement of inlet harbors may be summed 
up as follows: 

First. By dredging, unaccompanied by protective works. 

Second. By the use of parallel or converging jetties. 

Third. By the use of a single windward^’ jetty. 

Fourth. By the use of a single leeward’’ jetty. 

Dredging .—Since the marked improvement in suction dredges it 
has been demonstrated that it is possible to improve some inlet bars 
by this method alone, and in some cases this has not only been done, 
but done economically. This has been made possible by reason of 
the fact that when a narrow, deep cut has been made through a sand 
bar, while a channel was already in existence, there has resulted an 
additional increase in depth and also in width. This is due to the fact 
that the sides of such a channel w^ould tend to take their natural slope, 
which in the case of sand is very flat. 

Notwithstanding this fact, after a careful consideration of the con¬ 
ditions prevailing at Rockaway Inlet, we are forced to acknowledge 
the impossibility of maintaining a channel through any part of the 
bar by dredging alone. 

The army engineers in discussing this question laid down three pos¬ 
sible routes for a dredged channel, ignoring in so doing the natural 
channel to the southward. That their reasoning was right in this 
respect we believe, since it would appear most natural that, as the 
sand flow comes from the east and works around the point, the nearer 
the channel was located to the section from which the sand comes the 
greater would be the chance of its refilling. For the same reason, 
therefore, their most northerly channel would have the better loca¬ 
tion. But, as we have said before, the growth of Rockaway Point 
would be enormously increased if the waters yielded to the tendency 
to enter the west way, and the gap between Rockaway Point and 
East Bank shoals would be more quickly closed. The probable action, 
however, would be that the ebb waters of Jamaica Bay would take a 
westerly direction for a short distance until, overcome by the strong 
resistance of the waters of the upper bay, they would follow their 
natural tendency, turn abruptly to the south and cut their way by 
the shortest route to the sea—thereby presenting a situation similar 
to that prevailing at present. To keep such a channel open would 
mean constant, unremitting dredging at a large yearly cost of main¬ 
tenance, and since we believe this is unnecessary we can not empha¬ 
size too strongly our opinion that this should be resorted to onlv when 


EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 23 

the impracticability of maintaining a good channel by works has been 
demonstrated. 

Parallel or Twin jetties .—When we recall that just inside the 
entrance of every inlet harbor there is a deep gorge, due to the 
scouring effect had upon the easily eroded bottom by the swift 
tidal currents, it is not hard to understand the principle upon which 
the method of effacing ocean bars by parallel, twin, or converging 
jetties is founded. An example of this method of improving bars at 
the mouths of inlets and rivers may be seen at the outlet of the Missis¬ 
sippi River. It is simply extending or continuing the gorge by 
artificial works out a long distance to deep water, where it might 
reasonably be expected the sand would be scattered and distributed 
over the bottom of the sea. It has been charged against this system 
that the bar between the jetties as built would simply be pushed for¬ 
ward to the end of the structures, owing to the fact that at this point 
the velocity hitherto maintained by the water is decreased and that 
the sand which it carries would again be deposited, the harbor 
entrance being no better off. This objection is a legitimate one if 
the jetties are not carried out sufficiently far. If this precaution is 
taken there is scarcely any doubt of the result, and the best answer to 
the objection made is that most harbors which have already been 
improved were treated in this manner. 

In applying this method to Rockaway Inlet, however, we are met 
with other real objections. One of these is the excessive cost. This, 
in the case of all inlets, is large, but in the case of the entrance to 
Jamaica Bay it would be particularly so, owing to its peculiar forma¬ 
tion, which would cause the ^'leeward” and less important jetty to 
be unusually long and would raise the total expense about 200 per cent. 
At most entrances the ends of the headlands forming the inlet are 
directly opposite to each other—one receding as the other advances 
under the influences of the working forces. 

At an early period in the history of Jamaica Bay this formation 
probably prevailed, but for some reason Rockaway Point has not 
only advanced to the westward, but has also pushed to the south, so 
that at the present writing there is no opposing headland in existence, 
except we are to consider Barren Island, or what is left of Point 
Breeze, as such. In any case, the ‘deeward” jetty, if built in the 
usual manner, would have to start at some point in the vicinity of 
Point Breeze and be continued out to deep water, a distance equal to 
nearly 16,000 feet, or more than double the length of the single jetty 
proposed by the majority of this commission. 

In addition to the great cost of this jetty, it would entirely shut off 
the west course, which under the present condition is available for 
light-draft boats. This, to our minds, is a very serious obstacle 

and should not be overlooked. t/: ■ 

If there were no other way, we would suggest that a modincation 
of this method be adopted, building the ''windward” or east jetty in 
its entirety and the "leeward” jetty in part; that is, from deep 
water toward the shore with a wide gap on the shore end. This 
would reduce the cost a great deal, would not interfere with the east- 
bound boats from Coney Island Channel, and would, moreover, help 
the tidal inflow by placing as little obstruction as possible in the way 

of the Hood tide. 


24 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

Single ‘‘Leeward” jetty .—It has been held by a great many engi- • 
neers that no permanent improvement of an ocean bar can ever hope 
to be made by a single jetty. While it is true that, with one pos¬ 
sible exception, no great permanent improvement has ever resulted 
from this method of treatment, it must at the same time be admitted 
that, for a time at least, very efficient results have been secured 
where it has been tried. To our minds, a permanent improvement 
might have been made in these cases had not the mistake been made 
of building the ^Meeward’' jetty first.® 

Where, as in the case of Rockaway Inlet, the great mass of sand 
proceeds admittedly from the eastward and little, if any, from the 
westward, it would be the height of folly to build the ‘‘leeward’^ 
jetty alone. The principle upon which this form of jetty is sup¬ 
posed to achieve results is that the channel, being forced to travel 
between the jetty and the on-rushing sands, will forever maintain 
itself in that position. A glance at Plate II we believe will be suffi¬ 
cient to convince the most earnest advocates of this theory of its 
impracticability in this particular instance, since even at this time, 
in the face of the sand movement, the existing channel has a strong 
tendency to turn eastward in the direction of the outgoing tide and 
away from what would be the channel side of such a construction. 
This jetty, moreover, is more costly than the one suggested and 
would shut off the west way. 

“ Windward” jetty .—The purpose of all jetty construction is to 
afford protection to the channel from the sand, which would other¬ 
wise enter it, and so to guide the ebb currents from the interior of 
the harbor as to concentrate them upon one portion of the bar, 
thereby effecting scour sufficient to produce the required depth of 
water. Now, at Rockaway Inlet the sand moves from east to west, 
so that the erection of a “windward” jetty, or, in other words, a 
jetty on the east side of the channel, would prevent further encroach¬ 
ment upon the latter. The sand would be impounded in the groin 
formed by the jetty and the shore line of Rockaway Beach. As to 
the second duty of a jetty—that of producing scour—we have already 
said that it is a very difficult thing to effect concentration by 
a single jetty, and at most inlets we should hesitate long before 
recommending such a procedure. In the case of Rockaway Inlet, 
however, the forces there in action are so evident and the direction 
of the best channel so constant, statements to the contrary notwith¬ 
standing, that we feel the greatest confidence in the success of such a 
plan, provided the jetty is placed in the proper location. 

When it is remembered that at seven different periods that we 
know of during the past sixty-five years the channel has been due 
south or slightly east of south, and when it is remembered that the 
waters flowing from the upper bay will keep pressing back the water 
issuing from Jamaica Bay, setting up a constant reaction against the 
face of the jetty, and that even at the present time just west of 
Rockaway Point, beyond that part of the gorge where restraint by 
inclosed banks might be presumed to be the cause, and with no 
restraining influence apparent except on the east side, there is a 
depth maintained of over 42 feet with a width of 500 feet, there can 
be little reason to doubt that the single jetty will do its work. 


^ a The words “windward” and “leeward,” as used in this report, refer to the direc¬ 
tion from which the resultant flow of sand comes and not to the.direction of the wind. 



KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 25 

We are obliged to consider, too, that it is not only the waters of 
Jamaica Bay that will be obliged to find their way past this jetty, but 
that the water from Coney Island Channel must likewise pass that 
way, and that this volume will be increased largely as the result of 
the improvement now going on in that channel as provided for by 
the appropriation made at the last session of Congress. 

A single jetty placed at any other location than south, or possibly 
a trifle east of south, would, we believe, be of very little value, since a 
westward direction would simply mean the expenditure of money for 
doing precisely what the beach itself is doing all the time. It would 
not stop or impound the sand; the point would continue to advance 
alongside of the jetty until it reached the end. The same operation 
might be repeated again and again until, as we have said, the point 
was lost in the East Bank shoals and the inlet would be closed to 
commerce. Under the plan suggested by us it is probable that no 
dredging would be necessary and that in the event of success there 
w^ould be no cost for maintenance. 

The cost of the improvement as outlined above (exclusive of 
bulkheading and filling in the lowlands on Rockaway Beach) would 
be about $1,000,000, which is but a small amount m excess of the 
estimated first cost of dredging the north channel mentioned in the 
army engineers’ report. 

We have gone into this matter with such detail because we real¬ 
ize that the entrance is the important feature of development, and, 
further, because, having been asked to report in the city’s interest, 
we could permit nothing to interfere with our explaining the entire 
situation as we understand it. 

There is one other point to be brought out before concluding this 
section. We have mentioned that in the army engineers’ report on 
Rockaway Inlet the decision as to the effect of artificial works upon 
the improvement of Rockaway Inlet was based upon an earlier report, 
made by General Newton. 

In one part of General Newton’s report, made thirty years ago 
(1877), when no one could have foreseen the great growth of the city, 
and Jamaica Bay could put forth no just claim to notice, he says: “An 
attempt to arrest this movement (of sand from the east) by artificial 
works would be successful only after enormous expenditures and 
would inevitably result in the obliteration of the inlet itself. ” It will 
be noticed that in this sentence of General Newton’s there appears to 
be a contradiction. He admits that the sand would be arrested, but 
at great expenditure; but immediately after declares that this “would 
cause the obliteration of the inlet itself.” It is not explained how 
this is going to happen, and we on our part, after considerable 
thought, are at a loss to understand how such a catastrophe would 
be brought about. Again, what would have been considered an 
enormous expenditure at that time (1877), when the commerce of 
the bay must have been little or nothing, would perhaps appear 
trifling to-day in the light of the known demands of New York City 
commerce. We regret exceedingly that a more detailed investiga¬ 
tion into this question of opening up Rockaway Inlet by means of 
jetties was not entered into by the officers at present in charge of the 
New York office. That they did not was in all probability due to 
the fact that the river and harbor bill, under which they were acting, 
specifically called for a dredged channel. 


26 BEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPEOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

We have carefully examined their report to find reasons other than 
the general statement of excessive cost why artificial works will not 
avail for the improvement of the inlet, and only in one place do we 
find such a reason given. We allude to the third paragraph from the 
end of Major Winslow’s indorsement of the report of Colonel Lock- 
wood. To quote: 

From the within report and such other data as is available it appears that Rockaway 
Inlet channel is very unstable in position. This is due principally to the drifting of 
sand, resulting in a continuous advance of Rockaway Point and the adjacent shoals 
to the westward. Any unprotected dredged channel would be short lived and the 
cost of maintenance excessive. Works of a permanent character would be very 
expensive and in time would be engulfed by the drifting sands and their function 
rendered inoperative. 

It is not explained in precisely what manner the jetty would be 
engulfed. Are we to understand that the sand, when it has filled 
up the groin between the beach and the jetty, will continue to build 
up to such a height as to pass over the top of a high-tide structure 
or that the sand will work around the end of the jetty? 

It is not the waves that build beaches above the high-tide level; 
it is the wind. What will take place upon the completion will 
probably be this: The jetty forms an obtuse angle with the beach, 
and the interior part of this angle will be filled first in the form of a 
triangle, the longest side being toward the sea and forming the new 
shore line. Gradually this triangle augments, the area to be fdled 
being greater and its chances of being filled less, as it runs into deep 
water; but, in any case, the outer line of the filled triangle is always 
a new shore line, upon which the waves break. The interior part of 
the jetty is protected by a bank of sand, but in our opinion it could 
scarcely be said to be coVered or that it would not continue to do its 
work. Some of the sand will undoubtedly be blown over the wall 
into the channel, but the waters that have force enough to remove a 
solid and fixed bar of sand will have little trouble in carrying out to 
sea those particles so lately in suspension. 

Wherever the sand travel is great, there is always danger of the 
beach forming out so far as to go around the end of the jetty and pro¬ 
duce a new bar outside of it. To minimize this danger we have in this 
case suggested the erection of low timber groins east of the jetty for 
the purpose of arresting the sands before reaching that point, thereby 
relieving the jetty of much of its storage work and at the same time 
strengthening the adjoining foreshore by building it up where it most 
needs it. Furthermore, it has been the experience of many harbor 
engineers that where jetties are carried out to sufficiently deep water 
there is little trouble to be apprehended from the cause referred to 
owing to the currents scattering the sand out over the bed of the sea. 
At Rockaway Inlet the conditions are favorable in this respect, since 
when the 24-foot contour is reached, the bottom drops abruptly to 
38 feet, so that sand going around the end would be obliged to drop 
into this great depth, and, while in suspension, would be carried 
some distance before it eventually settled. Another favorable cir¬ 
cumstance is the presence of the waters issuing from Coney Island 
Channel, which are obliged to pass out to sea practically at the outer 
end of the jetty, and would be inclined to carry whatever sand there 
was present with them. 

In view, then, of all that we have said, we are convinced that the 
method of improvement suggested by us can be applied with success 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 27 

in the case of Rockaway Inlet, and that if it should be adopted a 
successful entrance can be made; and inasmuch as any improve¬ 
ment of Jamaica Bay is dependent absolutely upon securing such 
an entrance, we believe that no efforts should be spared in endeavor¬ 
ing to induce the Government to look with greater favor upon this 
project in the future than they have in the past. 

Before leaving this vital question of an entrance channel to Jamaica 
Bay, we desire to refer brieny to the Gravesend Ship Canal as a means 
of entrance. We do this, not because we are favorably impressed with 
such a route, but merely on account of the fact that it has frequently 
been suggested as the best means of approaching the bay. It will be 
recalled that when the Gravesend Ship Canal was first laid down on 
the town-survey maps, Manhattan Beach extended without a break 
as far east at Point Breeze, furnishing continuous protection to ship¬ 
ping throughout that distance, and affording an opportunity for a 
safe inside passage to the bay. In recent years, however, most of 
the beach east of the Oriental Hotel has been swept away by storms, 
so that a vessel passing the Gravesend Ship Canal is exposed to the 
sea as soon as she emerges from Sheepsliead Bay. It would be 
necessary therefore to furnish her either with a channel through the 
outer bar, to which we have referred and which, as has been shown, 
can be secured only at a very high yearly cost, or else an inside canal 
would have to be dug which would follow a northeast course through 
upland and meadow as far as Gerritsons Creek. So far as the devel¬ 
opment of Jamaica Bay itself is concerned, such an inside waterway 
would for many years be of little service, and its cost, amounting 
perhaps to $5,000,000 or $6,000,000, could only be looked upon as a 
preliminary expense. 

In our opinion, however, there are many serious objections to the 
use of this method of entering Jamaica Bay. In the first place, the 
adoption of such a plan would probably mean the abandonment of 
a plan to prevent the growth of Rockaway Point. In consequence 
of this, Rockaway Inlet would eventually be closed for the purposes 
of commerce, while Coney Island Channel and Ambrose Channel 
would both be gravely menaced. The practical closure of Rockaway 
Inlet might mean a breakout at some point of the beach farther east, 
or else the entire shutting out of the waters of the Bay except that 
which could enter by way of the artificial waterway frorn Gravesend 
Bay. In the latter case, to prevent an excessive velocity of water 
through the canal, the size of the bay would be limited to a compar¬ 
atively small area. The canal as laid down upon the town-survey 
maps is 200 feet wide. With this width, a depth at mean low water 
of 25 feet, a range of tide of 4.5 feet, and a mean velocity of fiow of 2 
feet per second, the amount of water passing in or out of the bay 
would be equal to 200x27.25x2, or 10,900 cubic feet per second. 
With a range of tide of 4.5 feet, this would correspond to a tidal basin 
of about 1,200 acres, or about one-thirteenth of the present water 
surface in the bay, and about one-eleventh part of the water surface 
provided in the plan prepared by the majority of this commission. 
This would upset all existing conditions in the bay, and would so 
increase the area of land to be filled as to forever prevent its recla¬ 
mation by hydraulic methods. 

Another objection to the construction of an inside waterway arises 
from the enormous summer travel to Coney Island. Tins would render 


28 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

brids^es or subways for railway or vehicular traffic necessary. Bridges 
in this particular locality would nullify the beneficial effects of a 
waterway, while a subway (if one only were to be built) would neces¬ 
sitate the alteration of every line of travel entering the island. If 
several subways were to be built, the cost would be excessive and the 
improvement of the bay greatly delayed. 

A third objection is based upon the fact that while an inside water¬ 
way might be useful for local traffic between the various parts of the 
upper harbor and Jamaica Bay it would be a very awkward and 
inconvenient route for ocean carriers. 

In view, then, of the inconvenience to shipping and land traffic of 
such a waterway, of its excessive cost, of the delay in achieving results 
from such a plan, and more especially because of the abandonment of 
protective measures for the preservation of Kockaway Inlet, no con¬ 
sideration should be given to a proposition to open up the Gravesend 
Ship Canal. 

In all respects, save the possession of a sufficiently deep, safe, and 
secure entrance channel, Jamaica Bay may be said to be a perfect nat¬ 
ural harbor. It is, in the first place, protected from storms: not only 
by Rockaway Beach, which serves as a natural breakwater, but also 
by the many hummocks scattered about its interior. The next favor¬ 
able feature to be noted is the extensive water front it is able to pro¬ 
vide. Were this developed to its utmost capacity, there would result 
a wharfage length equivalent to the combined shore line of all the bor¬ 
oughs of Greater New York. Estimating simply the length of bulk¬ 
head without the erection of a single pier, there is found to be 100 miles 
of frontage available. Furthermore, the vast water surface of the 
bay, covering, as it does, a territory 25 square miles in extent, makes 
it possible to provide sufficiently wide channels and waterways of 
any required depth; also to afford to shipping interests piers of 
maximum length without rendering navigation unsafe or interfering 
with the establishment of ample anchorage grounds. 

With piers economically arranged and use being made of the 
latest equipment on piers and wharves for freight handling, there 
would still be a large territory and an extensive front left for 
popular pleasure grounds. 

The physical formation of Jamaica Bay and its environs would 
seem to indicate, moreover, that the cost of maintenance of all 
artificial channels and waterways would be almost nothing; since 
from the fact that no fresh-water streams empty in to the bay, there 
would be little cause to fear that the channels, having once been 
excavated, would refill. 

The topography of the land adjacent to the bay is distinctly 
favorable to the growth of commerce, especially to manufacturing. 
The land being for the greater part salt marsh, is perfectly fiat, and 
the gradients, when finally determined, will be comparatively so. 
The cartage necessarily attendant upon large manufacturing indus¬ 
tries can therefore be conducted in an expeditious and economical 
manner. This feature of the bay is distinctly favorable also to cheap 
railroad construction and makes feasible the prompt building of the 
necessary spurs to all parts of the water front. We have already 
had occasion to refer to the connecting railroad that is to form a tie 
line between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York, New 


EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 29 

Haven and Hartford Kailroad systems, and which will probably be 
in operation in five years. 

To be in direct touch with two such gigantic railroads as these, 
ramifying, as they do, throughout all parts of the United States; to be 
located at the same time upon the banks of a waterway openingout 
to the foreign markets of the world, and to secure this advantageous 
position for a comparatively trifling sum, are assuredly inducements 
sufficient to tempt the most conservative manufacturer. To our 
minds a company settling here would command a commerce limited 
only by the extent of its capital. To this class there is an added 
advantage, and one which they themselves will perhaps be quickest 
to appreciate. This is the large and efficient labor market to be 
found at its very doors. By men who are in a position to know, this 
is declared to be unsurpassed in any part of the United States. 

We have previously given some figures as to the population and 
growth of those communities immediately adjacent to the bay. We 
repeat them now briefly, but in a slightly altered form. The popu¬ 
lation of the twenty-sixth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-second wards of 
Brooklyn and of the fourth and fifth wards of Queens aggregated in 
the year 1900, 139,470; while in 1905 this sum had increased to 
203,250. The gain in five years was 63,780, or 45.6 per cent, the rate 
per year being 9.1 per cent. If we assume this growth to continue 
at the same rate for eight years, in 1915 the population of the wards 
mentioned would reach the total of 351,200. The importance of 
this statement may perhaps be better realized when it is recalled 
that the districts included m this estimate all border on the bay, with 
the exception of the tw^enty-ninth ward, which adjoins the thirty- 
second on the north; this importance is further emphasized when 
the statement is coupled with another to this effect, that the above- 
estimated population of 351,200 will be exceeded in 1915 by no more 
than fifteen cities in the United States. The manufacturer will 
therefore have within his reach a large and growing community, 
which will not only supply him with a market for manufactures, but 
will in turn equip him with what he so seriously stands in need— 
efficient labor. 

This large population means much to the shipper as well, since a 
portion of it, at least that in the twenty-sixth ward, will more and 
more devote itself to various manufacturing industries; and people 
so engaged are quick to see the advantages of transportation by 
water. The shipper will therefore be in close touch with a large 
collecting and distributing territory. 

The growth of the borough of Brooklyn to the eastward suggests 
another consideration. The farmers have been gradually pushed 
farther and farther to the eastward, so that much of the produce for 
the markets is obliged to be shipped by rail. Consider the saving in 
time if a market were located on the shores of Jamaica Bay; it would 
reduce the travel of south-side farmers by many miles, and would 
afford equally as good a location for produce brought by the coastwise 
and interior trade vessels as our present markets do. The local trade 
alone in the vicinity of the bay would more than justify the location 
of a market at this place. 

Upon the completion of the barge canal new termini will have to 
be arranged to take care of the increased traffic. It has been sug- 


30 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

gested that there be several of these; one in each borough. Where 
could a more perfect site be found than upon the shores of this bay? 
If our trade in grain is restored, as we hope it will be by the canal 
improvements, is it not probable that there would be found the ideal 
place for the economical handling of it, thereby adding an additional 
reason for shipping by way of the port of New York in preference to 
those other seaboard cities which now control that trade? 

It might be granted that for some little time to come Jamaica 
Bay as an aid to the commerce of New York as a whole may not 
be needed, but even if this should be true the local requirements 
have reached that point where serious attention must be given 
them, and where some improvement of the bay has become necessary. 
Supplies of all kinds are in constant requisition. All the coal, 
wood, stone, brick, iron, cement, and building material of whatso¬ 
ever kind, are now brought to the consumer by railroad, or are 
carted enormous distances at great expense from the shores of the 
. East River or Newtown Creek. Were a small portion of the water 
front of Jamaica Bay improved, the gain derived by those in this 
vicinity from this source alone would be more than sufficient to 
cover the cost. In order that this point may appear clearer, we 
have secured from the building department of the borough of 
Brooklyn statistics as to the number and value of buildings erected 
during the fiscal year 1906. These statistics deal with those por¬ 
tions of the borough which would be benefited by improving the 
’ waterways of the bay. From a study of these figures it appears that 
during the year 1906 there were erected in Brooklyn a total of 6,697 
buildings, at a cost of $44,355,238. Of these, there were erected, 
at a cost of $12,702,515, 2,428 buildings in the twenty-sixth and 
thirty-second wards and in one-half of the thirty-first and twenty- 
ninth wards, the assumption being that this territory could be served 
better by the waters of Jamaica Bay than in any other manner. 
The number of buildings given represents 36.1 per cent of the total 
for the borough, and the cost of these buildings 28.6 per cent of the 
total cost. Now, if we assume that of the money expended in the 
construction of these 2,428 buildings two-fifths were spent for labor 
and three-fifths for material, it will be seen that the sum of $7,621,509 
was spent for building material in that small section of the borough 
bordering upon the bay. As much of this material is bulky, that is, 
large in volume as compared with cost, its tonnage must have been 
quite large. By making a rough estimate of several kinds of building 
materials, using standard weights and current prices, we have 
found the weight of this material to be close to three-fourths of a 
million tons. When we add to this the foodstuffs necessary for a 
population of 203,000 people and the necessary coal supply needed 
for 40,000 families, it is probable that the commerce‘from this kind 
of supplies alone, at present awaiting the development of Jamaica 
Bay, must be well over 1,000,000 tons. Nor must any consideration 
of the possible results attendant in this direction upon a proper 
development of this magnificent body of water neglect to take into 
account the stimulus given to building operations by reason of the 
improvement itself, and also by reason of the fresh influx of people 
attracted to the vicinity by the installation of new industries following 
in the wake of the improvement. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


31 


PLAN OF IMPROVEMENT. 


General considerations .—Acting upon the assumption that the 
difiiculties to be met with in securing a proper entrance channel to 
Jamaica Bay can be overcome at a cost that is not considered exces¬ 
sive when weighed against the probable advantages that will follow 
a proper improvement, the commission next took up the question of 
a general plan. 

To do this properly it was necessary to first consider the question 
generally, and this involved many things of an engineering nature, 
as well as an examination into the present rights of New York City 
in pieces of land in and adjacent to Jamaica Bay. 

In order that no mistake might be made in this last-mentioned 
matter, the commission framed and sent to the corporation counsel 
the letter which follows and requested an early reply: 


New York, May 29, 1906. 

Sir: The commission appointed by the mayor to report plans for the improvement 
of the Jamaica Bay water front desires to be advised by you— 

(1) To what- lands in and about Jamaica Bay has the city of New York good and 
clear title? 

(2) To what of such lands has the city claim to title and what is the prospect of 
adjustment of such claims? 

(3) Assuming that the city is the owner of the lands under water and the lands 
consisting of islands or hummocks in the bay, but that it is not the owner of the marsh 
land water front surrounding the bay, we desire to know how far the city could pro¬ 
ceed in condemning such bordering water front; that is to say, whether it would be 
limited to the water front itself and so much interior land as would permit the making 
of a marginal street, or whether it could condemn the entire marsh? Or, as it might 
possibly be stated, does the city’s power of condemnation run from high-water mark 
or from low-water mark? 

(4) If the lawful right to condemn now existing is not sufRcient to enable the city 
to take the entire marsh, is it possible to amend the law constitutionally so as to permit 
this? 


Yours, respectfully, 

Hon. John J. Delany, Corporation Counsel. 


Wm. G. Ford, Secretary. 


The following answer to the above letter was received: 


New York, October 2.3, 1906. 

Sir: The communication from the secretary of the commission, under date of June 
.1, 1906, to my predecessor has recently been called to my attention. 

You desired to be advised upon four questions, which are as follows, to wit: 

(1) To what lands in and about Jamaica Bay has the city of New York good and 
clear title? 

(2) To what of such lands has the city claim to title, and what is the prospect of 
adjustment of such claims? 

(3) Assuming that the city is the owner of the lands under water and the lands con¬ 
sisting of islands or hummocks in the bay, but that it is not the owner of the marsh-land 
water front surrounding the bay, we desire to know how far the city could proceed in 
condemning such bordering water front—that is to say, whether it would be limited 
to the water front itself and so much interior land as would permit the making of a 
marginal street, or whether it could condemn the entire marsh; or, as it might possibly 
be stated, does the city’s power of condemnation run from high-water mark or from 
low-water mark? 

(4) If the lawful right to condemn now existing is not sufficient to enable the city 
to take the entire marsh, is it possible to amend the law constitutionally so as to per¬ 
mit this? 

In reply I would state the questions relating to the title to lands under water of 
Jamaica Bay and neighboring districts have been under investigation by this office 
for some time, but little headway was made owing to the lack of an appropriation to 


32 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


carry it on until this year. Sufficient headway has been made, however, to enable 
this office to answer the questions submitted in your comiiiunication in a general 
way, sufficient to enable your commission to proceed with the matter it has in charge. 

The first and second questions can be considered together: 

First. To what lands in and about Jamaica Bay has the city of New York good and 
clear title? 

Second. To what of such lands has the city claim to title, and what is the prospect 
of adjustment of such claims? 

It is claimed, and in my opinion the claim is well founded, that the city of New 
York has a good and clear record title to the lands under water of Jamaica Bay from 
high-water mark around the bay. By high-water mark is meant the mean high water 
and noo the line to which lands, marsh or meadow lands, are overflowed by extraor¬ 
dinary high tides. 

This claim, however, is opposed by the commissioners of the land office and the 
attorney-general of the State of New York, who claim that the title to such lands 
under water is vested in the State and by private individuals and corporations who 
have obtained letters patent purporting to convey portions of such lands under water. 

As to the prospect of adjustment of such claims, I am unable to state within what 
time such claims may be adjusted. 

I can only say that the attorney-general of the State has agreed with this office to 
submit an agreed statement of facts to the courts, which will ultimately determine 
the rights of the city and State. 

To prepare such an agreed statement of facts will require the examination of the 
minutes of the various towns from their creation until consolidation with the city of 
New York, the making of surveys of the lands under water in question, the transla¬ 
tion of such minutes of the various towns as may be in the Dutch language, the copy¬ 
ing of old surveys, and the obtaining of searches from the county clerk’s and register’s 
offices showing what leases and deeds of such lands, if any, had been made by the 
various officials of such towns prior to consolidation. 

Third. Assuming that the city is the owner of the lands under water and the lands 
consisting of islands or hummocks in the bay, but that it is not the owner of the marsh¬ 
land water front surrounding the bay, we desire to know how far the city could pro¬ 
ceed in condemning such bordering water front—that is to say, whether it would be 
limited to the water front itself and so much interior land as would permit the mak¬ 
ing of a marginal street, or whether it could condemn the entire marsh; or, as it might 
possibly be stated, does the city’s power of condemnation run from the high-water 
mark or from low-water mark? 

The extent to which the city may exercise the power of eminent domain in con¬ 
nection with the improv'ement of the water front has been passed upon by the court 
of appeals in the case of “In re Application of the Mayor, etc.” (135 N. Y., 253). 

The syllabus in that case is as follows, to wit: 

“To minister to the necessities of commerce by providing fit and proper places in 
a seaport where ships can be loaded and unloaded with all proper facilities is a public 
duty owing by the State and through it by the municipality which governs and 
controls the port. 

“The only standard by which to judge of the extent of the duty is the necessities 
of the business. 

“Where a permanent pier and an exclusive right to its use is a necessity of large 
steamship lines, without which business can not properly be transacted, the duty 
rests upon the State or the municipality to provide such accommodations or to per¬ 
mit the companies to obtain them from private owners. 

“Where this duty has been imposed by the State upon a municipality and it has 
undertaken its performance, all appropriate acts done by it in such performance are 
for a public purpose. 

“Lands therefore required by a municipality, upon which such a duty has been 
imposed, for the construction of piers and wharves, are required for a public use arid 
niay be taken under the right of erninent domain; some portion may thereafter, in the 
discretion of the municipality, be divided off and placed in the exclusive possession of 
a lessee, to be used solely in the transaction of necessary busiriess connected with 
the transportation of passengers and freight. 

“Accordingly held that the provision of the New York consolidation act (par. 715 
chap. 410, Laws of 1882) authorizing the department of docks to acquire for the benefit 
of the city title, by proceedings in invitum, to any and all wharf property in the city 
not owned by it, included in the plans adopted in pursuance of the provisions of the 
act of 1870 (chap. 137, Laws of 1870), as amended by the act of 1871 (chap. 574, Laws 
of 1871), is not rendered unconstitutional by the fact that the city is authorized in 
its discretion to lease its piers or to give the exclusive use of some of them for special 
kinds of commerce (par. 716). ^ 


KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 33 


it 


'Also held, that a sufficient grant of power was given by said provision to include 
in condemnation proceedings property of the nature described, used by a railroad or 
gas company for landing freight or other property. 

“It is not necessary in such proceedings to show that the land proposed to be taken 
is required for the purpose of building any particular pier, dock or bulkhead; if 
required in order to enable the city to carry out its general plan, the statute permits 
its acquisition. 

“While property already devoted to a public use will not be regarded as subject 
to the right of condemnation for another public use unless the right is plainly granted 
by statute, it is not necessary that the statute should so in terms enact; it is sufficient 
if the right is conferred by necessary implication from the language used.” 

Section 715 of the consolidation act also provides as follows: 

“* * * department is also empowered to acquire in like manner the title 

to such lands under water and uplands as shall seem to said department necessary to 
be taken for the improvement of the water front.” 

The provisions of this section were incorporated in section 822 of the Greater New 
York charter. 

I am therefore of the opinion that the city of New York is vested with power to con¬ 
demn so much land under water, wharf property, and uplands as may be necessary to 
carry into effect a plan or plans for the improvement of the water front adopted in 
accordance with the provisions of the charter. 

Fourth. If the lawful right to condemn now existing is not sufficient to enable the 
city to take the entire marsh, is it possible to amend the law constitutionally so as to 
permit this? 

The answer herein contained to the third question renders it unnecessary to answer 
or discuss this question. 

Respectfully, yours, 

G. L. Sterling, 

Acting Corporation Counsel. 

Mr. Philip P. Farley, 

President Jamaica Bay Improvement Commisnon. 


The commission supplemented this correspondence by several 
talks vdth the assistant corporation counsel, to whom was assigned 
the task of investigating the city’s rights in Jamaica Bay. 

The information thus obtained enabled the commission to make an 
approximate estimate of the city’s possessions. 

To place this information in as definite shape as possible, we 
may say that it is the opinion of the corporation counsel that the 
city owns all the lands under the waters of Jamaica Bay from mean 
high water mark around the bay; that is to say, to the outer edge 
of the adjoining marshlands. It is not thought that the city can 
establish a claim to any portion of the mainland, even though por¬ 
tions of this are at times overflowed by extraordinary tides. 

There seems to be little doubt, moreover, but that the city can 
make good its claim to ownership in all those islands and hummocks 
in the bay that lie in what was formerly the old town of Jamaica. 
The boundary of this old town on the west, as near as can be at 
present determined by those in charge of the case, did not follow the 
line between Kings and Queens counties, which was a later sub¬ 
division, but probably took a southerly course through, or in the 
vicinity of. Big Channel, as shown on our map. 

To those portions of the West Meadows referred to on the map 
as the “Broken Meadows,” which are isolated from the mainland 
located in the old town of Flatlands, the city also claims title; but 
it is probable that to establish this will be much more difficult 
than will prove to be the case in the more easterly portion of the 

bay. . 1 1 • T i i! • 

It will be further noted that the city may take, by nght of emi¬ 
nent domain, such portions of the mainland, whether it be upland 


H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—09-3 



34 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

or marsh, as is necessary to carry out a definite scheme of water-front 
improvement. It is very doubtful, in the opinion of the assistant 
corporation counsel, Mr. Freedman, if the purchase of the entire 
strip of marsh land adjacent to Jamaica Bay could reasonably be 
shown to be necessary to such an improvement. The opinion, how¬ 
ever, was expressed that were such a step desired by the city authori¬ 
ties, the power to acquire large tracts of marsh land could be granted 
by an act of the legislature. 

This, in substance, is the situation regarding the city’s ownership 
of land in and adjacent to Jamaica Bay, as we understand it; and it 
is upon this understanding that the areas, now to be stated, are based. 

Estimating the combined areas of all lands and hummocks east 
of the line passing through Big Channel, including all parcels not 
directly attached to the mainland and excluding those few pieces 
which may properly be supposed to be in what is now Nassau County, 
there are found to be 3,660 acres. To this add 110 acres on Barren 
Island, which the city admittedly owns, and it may be said that there 
are at least 3,770 acres to which, in a short time, a good and clear 
title may be established. 

In addition, there are approximately 510 acres of marsh land in 
the old town of Flatlands, to which the city makes a claim, but the 
title to which will not be finally determined until a prepared test case 
can be taken up by the city and state authorities to the courts for 
decision. 

It must not be forgotten, either, that the city claims ownership 
in all the lands under water in the bay, so that the establishment 
of harbor lines will place it in possession of a valuable amount of 
water-front land on the north shore of Rockaway Beach, the amount 
of this depending upon the precise location of the lines, but in any 
case approximating 150 acres. Furthermore, any plan for improve¬ 
ment would necessarily shut off the smaller waterways throughout 
the bay, thereby further increasing the city’s ownership of land. 

In what follows, then, we have assumed that the above statement 
represents the correct situation, and the recommendations of this 
majority and deductions made by them are upon this understanding. 

Any prediction as to when the final adjustment of these claims of 
the city will be made would be more or less guess work, since there 
is yet a vast amount of work to be done by the city’s counsel. 

GENERAL PLAN. 

The experience of men in the past has taught them the advisabil¬ 
ity of adopting a general plan or layout in any large contemplated 
improvement. This is deemed so essential that the rule is applied 
even in those cases where it is thought that the execution of the 
greater part of the projected improvements will be done by future 
generations. The want of such general plans in the early stages 
of what are now vast enterprises has resulted in much inconvenience 
and great expense. Our public buildings, our cities, our railway and 
transportation systems are in many cases examples of this lack of 
foresight. Where, however, attention and thought have been given 
to this phase of preparation for public works, the completed im¬ 
provements have presented a harmonious appearance. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 35 

It is such a plan that we have endeavored to prepare. In doinj^ so, 
we have kept in mind certain fundamental rules of engineering, which 
must be ever uppermost in the minds of men planning harbor works. 
We have at the same time kept in view the vast territory covered by 
Jamaica Bay and its environs, as well as the probable growth and 
wants of adjacent communities. In addition to this, it has-been 
assumed that, owing to the immense acreage involved, rendering 
improbable an immediate demand for the entire improvement, the 
work would be carried on in sections as the demand for it was created. 

While, therefore, we have prepared a general plan, it has been pur¬ 
posely made in such a way as to provide sufficient inducements to 
attract manufacturers and settlers, and at the same time not so 
detailed as to prevent such modifications as may be made necessary by 
new conditions as they arise. In the preparation of the plan considera¬ 
tion had to be given to the following special questions: 

1. The 'probable uses of the territor'y after improvement .—^We have 
repeatedly called attention to the extensive area of this territory. 
It would seem that from the present character of adjoining com¬ 
munities, as well as from the topography, that certain sections could 
be best developed for the purposes of trade, manufacture, sanitariums 
and city institutions; some for the establishment of suburban settle¬ 
ments and villa sites, and still others reserved for parks and waterside 
resorts for a metropolitan population. There would still remain a 
large amount of land, which at the present time is so sparsely settled 
and inconveniently located as to prevent any reliable prediction as 
to its probable future. 

2. The necessity for establishing buUchead and pierhead lines through¬ 
out Jamaica Bay .—This is one of the most important features in the 
whole plan, and it required the closest kind of attention. Hydrog- 
raphers have at different times tried to lay down general rules to 
govern the establishment of such lines, but for the most part they 
are applicable only to rivers or narrow channels. In most cases, 
too, the application of general rules is difficult, since it most frequently 
happens that water-front improvements in cities go on for many 
years with constant encroachment on the waterway before any 
action whatsoever is taken toward the establishment of lines. It 
thus becomes a question of how to best adapt the currents to the 
existing bulkhead piers and wharves, and to prevent further damage 
by encroachment. Nevertheless, there are certain elements that 
enter into consideration of such a subject for any particular case, 
and the undersigned members of the commission, after much thought, 
laid down the following general rules for the purposes of discussion: 

{a) No encroachment on the waterway should be permitted 
that would seriously interfere with what is known as the “tidal 
prism;’’ that is, the volume of water that passes from the bay througli 
the inlet. 

It will be recalled that in speaking of the entrance channel to the 
bay we called attention to the fact that any system of improving 
ocean bars depended for its success upon the tidal volume. If this 
is diminished unreasonably; that is, if large encroachments are made 
upon a volume already small, the result would be disastrous. This 
rule requires particular enforcement in cases where the outflow is not 
increased by additions from fresh-water streams. In such cases the 


86 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

amount of water shut out of the bay by contracting the harbor lines 
diminishes the chance of scour in about the same ratio. 

In Jamaica Bay the volume of water now filling it at each tide is 
quite large—about, as near as we can judge, ten times that of the 
harbor of Wilmington, Cal., wliich has already been improved. A 
certain encroachment was, therefore, considered allowable on this 
account, but only where local conditions made such a demand. 

(b) No encroachment should be permitted in any channel in the 
bay that would cause an excessive scour by unduly increasing the 
velocity. 

In Jamaica Bay there is little to be feared from this source. The 
channels that now exist, with one or two exceptions, are the result 
of the scouring action of the waters of the bay. They are, therefore, 
a measure of this force, being very shallow in the upper reaches of 
the bay, where the volume ol water is small and the wave of trans¬ 
lation not sufficient in velocity to have much eroding effect upon 
the bottom. As a small tidal stream advances it is joined by others, 
and together they proceed toward the entrance, continually aug¬ 
menting, increasing in volume and velocity, making deeper channels 
as they proceed, and reaching their maximum in the gorge. At 
any point in an existing channel the cross section is a measure of the 
working value of the tidal volume interior to the said point. 

Now, since any plan for the development of the entire bay will 
necessarily call for excessively wide waterwa5^s (much wider than 
required by the normal demands of commerce), in order to provide 
filling material for the marshes, there will be a diminution of velocity 
rather than an increase as a result of the improvement. 

(c) The lines of all structures should be regular, so as to prevent 
any tendency to create eddies or to interfere with a uniform fiow of 
water. 

This rule is particularly important in the treatment of rivers, 
and it is only in the narrowest waterways that it becomes positively 
necessary to enforce it for the purpose of regulating the fiow. It is 
much better in all cases, however, to observe the rule. For uni¬ 
formity of appearance, it is best to have all structures conform to 
regular lines. 

(d) Harbor lines should not encroach far enough to interfere with 
proper provision for anchorage or with the movement of the kind of 
vessels to be accommodated. 

While it is necessary to provide for ships of maximum length, 
the fact must not be overlooked that the handling of these large 
vessels pquires room and that at times ships may be required to 
anchor in the harbor. This necessitates the centering of such trade 
as requires large ships in those portions of the bay where there is 
ample room to accommodate it. It is desirable to provide as much 
as three times the length of the ship between pier ends in such places. 

(e) Sufficient room should be left between bulkhead and pier¬ 
head lines in that portion of the bay to be devoted to commerce 
as is necessary to provide for the rapidly increasing size of ships. 

It has happened that when the dock commissioner has desired 
to rp.ove thr* pierhead line farther out into the stream, for the purpose 
of securing sufficiently long piers to accommodate ocean liners the 
Federal Government has refused permission to do so because of the 
fear of undue interference with the tidal flow. Whether or not 


REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 37 

the Government is justified in refusing to a large city like New York 
relief of this kind, and forcing it to spend millions of dollars for the 
purchase of a few feet of land inside of the bulkhead line, is not a 
question for discussion in this report; but it is instructive to recall 
such a situation at a time when consideration is being given a problem 
of this nature. The lesson to be learned is to place the bulkhead 
line sufficiently far inshore to leave a* wide channel and to provide 
a maximum length for piers. 

(jp The harbor lines should be so fixed as to leave no doubt as to 
their precise location. 

If one looks at a harbor chart more than a few years old he will 
note that nearly all the pierhead lines and many bulkhead lines are 
composed largely of curves. These give a graceful appearance 
to the drawing and are supposed to be beneficial for the guidance 
of tidal currents. Without a doubt, in swift-moving streams sharp 
angles projecting into the water, re-entrant angles of all kinds, 
tend to set up eddies and cause wide differences in the velocities 
prevailing in different parts of the river or waterway, and there 
can be no question that at times it seems desirable to lay out the 
pierhead line to act as an efficient guide to the current and at the 
same time use it for the equalization of velocities. For bulkhead 
lines it is not desirable in any case, especially where the curves are 
sharp and it is intended that ships shall lay along the bulkhead. 
It has in the past also led to much confusion, owing to the great diffi¬ 
culty experienced in definitely locating such curved bulkhead and 
pierhead lines. 

For these two reasons, convenience in wharfing boats where, for 
some time at least, the bulkhead will serve all the purposes of a wharf 
and on account of the ease of location, straight lines should in all 
cases be laid down—unless there is a very decided reason for taking 
the opposite view. In the absence of such a reason the lines as 
finally determined for Jamaica Bay will be found to be straight. 

The above is an outline of the principles that guided us in dealing 
with this problem of the establishment of bulkhead and pierhead 
lines. Careful thought convinced us that these principles would be 
most closely adhered to by keeping the bulkhead lines as far inshore 
as possible, withou.t making ugly turns and recesses. 

It will be readily conceded that this method of treatment preserves 
to the utmost the ^Hidal prism.’^ It makes long piers and anchorage 
grounds possible. It provides ample distance between pier ends to 
properly manage vessels of maximum size. No swift currents are 
created, and, in addition to this, there is found right at hand an 
abundance of material for filling in the entire meadow land in and by 
the bay. 

It may be charged against this plan that the currents in the bay 
will be so sk’ggish that when once the channels are dredged out they 
will soon refill, or that when the surrounding country has become 
settled this sluggishness will make the conditions in the bay insani¬ 
tary. In answer to this we would call attention to the fact that the 
velocities of currents in the bay will be very little changed from what 
they are at present, since it is the same power that creates them— 
namely, the head of water behind any section of the stream, and that 
as regards the filling up of the bay this is scarcely probable, inas¬ 
much as there are no fresh-water streams furnishing silt to it, as is 


38 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

the case with bavs having rivers discharging into them, and the only 
material that will find lodgment will be what is carried from the beach 
by the wind. 

As to the possibility of growth of insanitary conditions, there is 
this to be said—that, assuming Jamaica Bay is dug to a depth of 
20 feet below mean low water, it would follow that twice in each 
twenty-four hours one-fifth of the entire water of the bay would pass 
to the sea. At the present time one-half of the water leaves the bay 
twice each day. There is little danger to be apprehended from a bay 
flushed as well as this. Care sho" Id be taken, however, to see that 
all sewage is properly treated before final discharge into the bay. 

3. The necessity of road connections to Rochavjay Beach and to other 
portions of the hay .—In the development of any new territory this 
matter of highways is of first importance. There is no doubt but 
that the growth of Rockaway Beach has been seriously retarded dur¬ 
ing the past by the want of such communication with the mainland 
north of the bay, and unless adequate facilities of this kind were 
quickly provided it would be useless to develop those hummocks and 
islands in the bay which form the chief part of the city’s present pos¬ 
sessions. It would be the merest folly to develop such lands and 
hope to secure residents by offering them no further inducements in 
the way of transportation than that provided by the single railway 
traversing the territory. As fast as portions of the lands are devel¬ 
oped roads to the mainland tying in with the established street sys¬ 
tem should be built, in order that those most likely to use the beach 
and newly reclaimed land for business or pleasure can have ready 
access to both these places by wagon or automobile. 

J. Railroad connection for all those jyarts of the ivater front which are 
to be devoted to commerce .—The question of adequate terminal facili¬ 
ties in New York, particularly in Manhattan, was recently raised by 
the chamber of commerce, and it has again been suggested that a 
terminal railway be built around the greater portion of the island in 
order that railroad connection might be made direct to all piers. 

lYhat the city has lost by neglect in this respect it would be difficult 
to estimate, and remedies applied at this late date would but mitigate 
the evil and not cure it, since, as we have previously stated, tlie char¬ 
acter of the city so formed and it has adjusted itself to those condi¬ 
tions which have for is long a time prevailed. 

To-day among shippers and manufacturers the cry is everywhere 
heard, ‘‘Direct from ship to car!” and the nearer this ideal situation 
is approached in any new venture the more quick and ready the re¬ 
sponse from those acute business men who are ever on the lookout for 
ways and means to reduce the cost of production. It should be pos¬ 
sible for every manufacturer to ship his goods direct from his work¬ 
rooms to the car, and it ought to be possible to take this car along¬ 
side the ship at any pier or wharf on the water front without the need 
of an intermediate conveyance. We have tried to take advantage of 
the experience gained in this matter in other localities, and in formu¬ 
lating plans for those sections of the bay front which seem to be 
best adapted to commerce have kept this princq^le always in view. 

5. The dcingers of marginal streets and short blocks along the water 

front in sections where commerce and manvfacture are to be centralized. _ 

In previous pages of this report attention has been called to the vreat 

to 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 39 

hindrance offered to shipping and to any business dependent upon 
shipping by marginal streets. By a ‘‘marginal street’’ is here meant 
a waterside street, to which trucks, carts, etc., have free access, 
thereby interfering with the proper handling of freight from steamer 
to warehouse or factory, and making the safe and successful operation 
of a terminal railroad a practical impossibility. It is extremely 
doubtful if private owners could be induced to locate factories and 
warehouses alongside of any waterway that calls for an opened street 
betyyen them and the bulkhead. If any doubt exists upon this point, 
a visit to both sides of Manhattan and a cursory glance at the cheap 
structures erected all along the magnificent water front will, we are 
sure, dispel it. The mere ownership by the city of the water front of 
Jamaica Bay would not lessen such an evil, since it would in any case 
be obliged to lease, and we believe few lessees would be found to 
make the experiment. 

Short blocks parallel with the bulkhead line mean frequent inter¬ 
ruptions of the system by streets running at right angles with the 
bay front, and prevent the successful operation of the railway and 
the establishment of ample freight storage and switching yards. A 
proper plan eliminating marginal streets will not interfere with the 
necessary trucking business, will offer no obstacles in the way of 
fire protection—since spaces will be left at frequent intervals for this 
purpose and for the proper storage and inspection of bulk goods— 
and will provide for a very wide wharf on the water side of all ware¬ 
houses for the same purpose. These remarks apply to those districts 
only which immediately adjoin the water front and which are to be 
devoted strictly to commerce. 

6. The advantages of hasins in connection with a general imjprove- 
ment of the hay .—When the town survey commission laid down a 
svstem of streets and bulkhead lines for the old towns of New Lots, 
Flatlands, Gravesend, Flatbush, and New Utrecht, they provided at 
many places along the shore front for the eventual construction of 
basins. Some of these are included in the territory adjacent to Ja¬ 
maica Bay, and which it is now proposed to improve. It was natural, 
therefore, for us to consider the general question as to the advantages, 
disadvantages, and general utility of such waterways. The principal 
objection to such interior basins is based upon the question of sani¬ 
tation. It is charged by some that these basins become in time un¬ 
sanitary from the discharge into them from various sources of refuse 
of all kinds. Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek are cited, gener¬ 
ally, as examples of what may in time be expected from the estab¬ 
lishment of such waterways. We feel, however, that if advantage 
be taken of the improved methods of sewage disposal which the last 
twenty years have brought into practical use there need be no fear 
on this account. With proper supervision and by insisting that all 
factory proprietors shall use approved methods of treating all waste 
material before final discharge, the water in the basins may be kept 
healthful and pure. Neither must it be forgotten that with a range 
of tide of 4.5 feet, and with only a sufficient d]|''^^^h of water provided 
in the basins to accommodate the class of likely to be de¬ 

manded in such narrow slips, a very large p6rc'^ de??® of the total vol¬ 
ume of water is disposed of at each tide. Furtl^g-^hore, it can scarcely 
be doubted, especially by those familiar New- 



40 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

town Creek and Gowanus Canal, and with the immense trade that 
these accommodate, that the advantages which have accrued from 
their construction far outweigh the disadvantage mentioned. ^ ^ 

Basins or slips penetrating inland have, first of all, this in their 
favor—that they provide additional wharfage room in those localities 
where such is needed, and make out of what would be otherwise 
comparatively worthless inland lots valuable business property. 
They likewise have the effect of permitting boats to approach nearer 
to the established population. This is a distinct advantage when 
the high cost of cartage is considered. All kinds of building material, 
which generally arrive on light-draft boats, could be taken care of 
in such places better, perhaps, than on the main water front. 

Still another detail that must not be overlooked in any considera¬ 
tion of the advantages of such a feature in the harbor plan is the large 
saving in cost by having made available the dredged material taken 
from such slips, all of which can be placed on the marsh lands, far 
removed from the main body of the bay, from wliich, otherwise, the 
filling would have to be pumped. 

DETAILS OF PLAN. 

It will at once be seen from a study of the proposed plan of im¬ 
provement, wliich is shown on Plate XIX, that we have tried to 
embody all of the general and special features which have been 
sketched above, and it remains now to call attention to the particular 
application of them to the local conditions existing in the Jamaica 
Bay section. 

Bulkhead and pierhead lines .—Wherever circumstances permitted, 
we have tried to be as definite as possible in regard to the location of 
these lines. We have not attempted to give courses and distances; 
to do this would have required a minute survey of the entire bay. 
This in itself would have been a monumental work, requiring a large 
force of assistants, at least two 3 ^ears of time, and a much larger sum 
of money than was at the disposal of the commission. It was entirely 
unnecessary, moreover, since under the present circumstances the 
duty of requesting the approval of proposed lines rests upon the dock 
commissioner; and the department over which he presides, cr what¬ 
ever department or commission to which the improvement may at 
the proper time be assigned, can secure the necessary data for tliis 
purpose. 

All of the lines are, however, drawn with as much accuracy as the 
character of the map permitted and will in all cases serve as an effi¬ 
cient ^uide to those making precise locations. Whether any perma¬ 
nent improvement is undertaken or not, it is without question 
advisable that the pierhead and bulkhead lines, as shown upon our 
plan, be fixed with precision and approved; and this should be done 
as soon as possible, since even at the present time encroachments upon 
what we believe to b^^^jty property are taking place. 

We do* not hesitat|^j^^j recommend the general layout embodied in 
this report. We beh that it will in each particular locality satisfy 
all demands, and th|,g ^ taken as a whole, it will be found to conform 
to most engineering^^ ^jd (economical requirements. Detailed surveys 
may show that 'modifications are necessary in a few places^ 


REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 41 

but we do not believe they will be sufficient to cause any difference 
either in the estimated cost or in the calculated results. 

Wherever there has been found a well-defined street system, either 
actual or planned, strict attention has been given to it in order that 
no street already opened or built might be interfered with and that 
as few changes as possible might be rendered necessary. Such street 
systems were also used as guides in the location of bulkhead lines, 
in order that upon the execution of the improvement no bad angles 
or absurdly shaped blocks would exist. In some places, of course, 
the territory is entirely in a state of nature, no signs of public im¬ 
provements as 3 "et appearing. In such cases we were obliged to 
presuppose the probable form that the future city improvements 
would take, and these suppositions, taken in conjunction with proper 
regard for the ‘Hidal prisin’’ and a sufficiency of filling material, 
enabled us to determine a correct location for the lines. Wherever 
permanent improvements already existed or were under way, care 
was taken to adopt such linos as would not discourage men who 
might be termed pioneers in the work of opening up Jamaica Bay 
to commerce. 

Along the north shore of Rockaway Beach, in the built-up portions, 
the bulkhead line has been made to follow those permanent improve¬ 
ments which at the present time encroach the farthest upon the 
channel, this plan seeming to interfere least with the rights of private 
owners and at the same time to make such structures the limiting 
line of encroachment. In those other portions where no improve¬ 
ments whatever have taken place the existing line of the channel 
was taken as a permanent guide for the establishment of a pierhead 
line, that contour being chosen which seemed to offer the best solu¬ 
tion of the problem of equalizing velocities. The bulkhead line in 
such instances was not placed very far back of the pierhead line, 
since it is quite unlikely that very long piers will ever be needed; 
furthermore, it was thought wise to keep the beach as wide and 
secure as possible at all points in tliis vicinity, so as to minimize the 
possibilit}^ of a washout. 

Naturally, reclamation carried on along these lines will result in 
the obliteration of many small creeks and waterway, and will there¬ 
fore add to the territory necessary to be filled. The land to which 
the city will probably secure title will, after the execution of the 
proposed work of reclamation, amount to 4,660 acres. These lands 
are represented on the plan as blocks C, D, E, F, G, H, and I. Under 
the proposed plan the total area of lands necessary to be filled is 
about 15,000 acres. The increase of this figure over the previously 
stated total meadow area (12,700, page 26) being due, as we have 
said, to the inclosure of small and useless, waterways. A further 
fact’to be noted is that under the proposed plan all but two of the 
blocks mentioned (C to I) will be directly connected with the existing 
Rockaway Beach Railroad. Finally, under the plan the tidal vol¬ 
ume has been reduced by about 17 per cent only. 

Little Bay Rasm.—The peculiar formation of the north shore of 
Barren Island and the need of a supply of filling material m the 
westerly portion of the meadow suggested the desirability of locating 
a basin on the site of Little Bay. The physical features all seem 
admirably adapted to such a plan. The method of treatment is 


42 EEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

shown on the general plan. It will at once be seen that advantage 
has been taken of the groups of small islands to the eastward by 
using them as portions of a solidly built pier, one side of which acts 
as the easterly boundar}^ of the basin and the other as a training lyall 
for the main channel to the Canarsie and Fresh Creek district. Pier¬ 
head lines are suggested for only three sides of the basin the west, 
south, and north—since these will afford longer and more accessible 
piers and berths on those sides, while none are needed on the east. 

Kabroad connection to every part of Barren Island and block B 
can readily be secured, since under the proposed plan but one small 
waterway' 300 feet in width will have to be crossed, and as this was 
provided more for the purpose of procuring purer water by circula¬ 
tion than as a thoroughfare for vessels, a fixed trestle bridge at small 
cost could be utilized during the early stages of the territory’s devel¬ 
opment. 

The street system indicated on the blocks adjoining Little Bay 
Basin, as well as those laid down elsewhere on the plan, are to be 
taken merely as suggestions from us, to whom it seemed the proper 
method of treatment of such a system when taken in connection with 
the recommendations for the improvement of the water front. It is 
hoped that these or any other of our suggestions will in no sense be 
construed by the regular city departments as attempts to infringe 
upon their prerogatives. 

One further advantage of this basin lies in the fact that ships 
loading and unloading here would be doubly protected from storms, 
since both Rockaway Beach and Barren Island will intervene between 
them and the sea. 

The area of Little Bay Basin as laid down will amount to about 
330 acres. The extent of this may be judged more accurately per¬ 
haps when it is recalled that this is five and one-half times the area 
of Atlantic Basin and over three times that of the Erie and Brooklyn 
basins combined. 

Gerritsons Creek, Mill Creek, and New Canal, with lateral branch 
into the hay .—In our opinion the best method of improving Gerrit¬ 
sons Creek and ^lill Creek consists merely in straightening the same 
in the manner indicated on the plan. The lines as laid down do not 
interfere in the least with the extension of the street system, as shown 
on the town survey commissioners’ map. North of Avenue V noth¬ 
ing has been done to change the natural situation of Gerritsons 
Basin, since by the continued use of tide gates at this point an excel¬ 
lent body of water can be kept practically at high tide all the time, 
making a desirable pond or lake. The gates can be arranged at 
intervals for the purpose of flushing, thus keeping the water in a 
pure state. 

The territory embrac’ed between Avenue V, Flatlands avenue, 
Gerritsons avenue, and East Thirty-third street would make an ideal 
site for a park, but since this would involve the purchase of con¬ 
siderable upland and would take in several very valuable existing 
buildings, we feel that we would perhaps be overstepping our powers 
by recommending such an improvement. We are content, therefore, 
to suggest this matter in the hope that, if the improvement of the 
lower portion of Gerritsons Creek be at any time undertaken, the 
park project might then be considered. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 43 

As regards Mill Creek, it is necessary onl}^ to say that we have 
suggested the straightening of its sides and have made it as wide 
as possible, except in those portions parallel to and immediately 
south of Avenues V and U. Here, on account of the necessity of 
bridges, it has been thought best to keep the stream narrower, the 
extreme width at such places being 300 feet. In order to aid the 
circulation of water at these points and to do away with all dead 
ends it was thought advisable to plan a new canal to take the place 
of the winding creek now back of Bergen Beach. This canal would 
run north and south parallel with the street system, its easterly 
side following the west line of East Sixty-eighth street extended in 
a southerly direction, its westerly side following the easterly hue of 
East Sixty-sixth street, extended in a southerly direction. Its 
width, therefore, would be 460 feet. At its north end a turning 
basin is provided; while at its southerly end, where it adjoins Deep 
Creek, a lateral branch is laid out, empt 3 dng into the bay. An addi¬ 
tional advantage of this continuous waterv'ay would bo that vessels 
would not be obliged to be towed out stern foremost, as is frequently 
the case in narrow canals, but might enter by one route and depart 
by another, thereby obviating all turning. 

A serious difficulty in the way of carrying out this plan lies in 
the fact that the ownership of the lands in the bay has not yet been 
settled. The improvement company controlling Mill Island and the 
land adjacent to Mill Creek on the north claim ownership not only 
to the meadow, but to the lands under water. They propose filling 
in Mill Creek between East Sixty-first street and East Sixty-seventh 
street. This is to be regretted, since it is a fact that at present there 
is absolutel}" no movement at all of water at the head of Mill Creek, 
and in time this water is bound to become unhealthy. Under the 
plan suggested in this report some circulation might be expected, 
and at any rate, with the waterway kept open, provision could be 
made, when necessary, for tide gates in pairs, whereby flushing of 
all these creeks and canals might be accomplished. The argument 
of the improvement company in favor of their plan was that, were 
they compelled to build bridges at frequent intervals, the growth of 
their property would be greatly retarded. It seems, however, that 
the number of such bridges required in the early stages of develop¬ 
ment need at the most be two, and those of a cheap character. In 
time, of course, the growth of the place might be such as to require 
more bridges of a more expensive type. If such should prove to be 
the case, is it not reasonable to suppose that the returns from a 
community so prosperous as to make demands of this kind would be 
amply sufficient to cover the additional cost ? 

Extension of Flathush. avenue .—The question of extending Flat- 
bush avenue from the mainland to Barren Island, connection being 
made to Rockaway Beach either by bridge or ferry, has been dis¬ 
cussed for some time. In case the general improvement of the bay 
is undertaken, the extension of Fiatbush avenue would seem to be 
necessary, and in any case miglit be deemed advisable for the purpose 
of opening up the extensive tract of marsh lands in that vicinity. 
In the event of this work being undertaken, some connection to 
Rockaway Beach ought to form one of the features, since that would 
in time be the objective point of most travelers. Time will probably 


44 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

tell what form of connection is most demanded. It was on account 
of the probable extension of this avenue that it was thought advisable 
to shut off as many of the smaller creeks as possible between Barren 
Island and the mainland, and therefore the two most important 
ones, Mill Creek and Deep Creek, were the only ones left open. 

Paerdegcbt Basin. —This basin as laid down upon the town survey 
commissioners’ map extends for a very long distance inland. Its 
extreme interior point is only about 1,200 feet east of Ilatbush 
avenue, where that thoroughfare crosses Avenue I. A personal 
inspection of the line of this basin showed that no attempt should 
be made to make a navigable waterway farther north at this point 
than Flatlands avenue. At the intersection of this avenue with the 
basin, as laid down upon the map, the Brooklyn sewer departnient 
have erected a sewage disposal plant from which the effluent will be 
discharged into the basin below Flatlands avenue. To aid them in 
carrying out this plan, they have secured the official opening of this 
basin as far south as the present bulkhead line. Aside from the 
establishment of new limiting lines for this basin in the manner indi¬ 
cated on the plan, no improvement is suggested at this time. 

Between the mouth of Paerdegat Basin and Canarsie Landing the 
bulkhead line has been altered for the purpose of doing away with 
the interior angle at this point and because it seemed desirable to 
have the outlet of Paerdegat Basin as near as possible to the main 
channel. 

Canarsie Parle enlargement. —Between Paerdegat Basin and Canar¬ 
sie the city possesses a tract of land, part of which is inclosed and 
used as a park. Only a small portion of this is available for that 
purpose at present, since much of it is marsh land. Having in mind 
the enormous population in the twenty-sixth ward, we feel that no 
greater service could be rendered by us to the city than by suggest¬ 
ing the enlargement of this park. The extent to which this should 
be done is shown on the general plan and would require but a small 
expenditure for the purchase of land, since the larger part of the 
increase is made up of land now under water and to which, according 
to the corporation counsel, it is supposed that the city will establish 
title. The entire marsh land within the new boundaries of Canarsie 
Park should then be reclaimed, an artificial beach for bathing being 
secured in so doing. 

Fresh Creele and Spring Oreeh basins and vicinity. —There is perhaps 
no section near Jamaica Bay that offers so many inducements to the 
city and to manufacturers as that embraced between the basins 
above mentioned. It ought to be the commercial center of the bay. 
With a good channel leading to it from the ocean, we believe that 
this site would offer greater opportunities for commercial develop¬ 
ment than almost any land in the vicinity of the port of New York. 
With the exception of the channel referred to, there seems to be 
scarcely an element wanting to make it one of the greatest shipping 
depots and manufacturing centers of the metropolis. The head of 
Fresh Creek, as has been previously said, is but a mile from the center 
of east New York, or the twenty-sixth ward, borough of Brooklyn. 
This ward has at present a population of over 100,000. It is larger 
than any other single ward in the borough, and is growing at the rate 
of 8 per cent per year. In building material and food supplies alone 
this community uses each year approximately 1,000,000 tons, all 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 45 

of which must be brought in by way of the Long Island Railroad 
or by carts from Newtown Creek; either of these methods adds 
materially to the price paid by the consumer. Another attractive 
feature of this section is that here the waterways in Jamaica Bay 
are very wide, so that piers of maximum length can be erected when 
necessary. With sufficient water in the channels leading to them, 
the longest steamers that would be built in the next forty years 
might find accommodation without the least trouble. 

At the head of the basin, too, immediate contact is to be had with 
the connecting railroad, giving an outlet by means of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania and New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads to all parts 
of the United States. Immediately north of where a junction can be 
made, the railroad proposes to establish a terminal freight 3 ^ard that 
will occupy nearly 600 city lots. At comparatively little cost rail¬ 
way connection could be made to this line by a "terminal railway 
constructed either b}" the city or b}" a terminal company to whom the 
city would grant rights along the water front. Inasmuch as it is 
believed that in this locality a great union terminal could be con¬ 
structed, to which all railroads entering New York would have ready 
access by means of specially constructed car floats suited to with¬ 
stand the necessary short outside passage, it is suggested that more 
equitable rights and better facilities could be secured to settlers 
through the agency of a terminal company under city regulation 
than by means of spurs from an existing railroad. 

In the early stages of development, of course, fittle room would be 
needed by such a terminal railway; but, should this entire section 
grow along the lines indicated, greater facilities would be required 
than are now to be had at the Bush docks in South Brookl^m. 

It has been considered wise to make provision for such a con¬ 
tingency, and a strip along the water front 640 feet wide has been set 
aside to meet the demands of the future. 

On a separate plan we have roughly sketched the general features 
of this terminal. This is shown on Plate HI. Immediately adjacent 
to the water front provision is made for a wharf or bulkhead 100 feet 
wide to be used mainly for the temporary storage of hulk goods 
awaiting transshipment or inspection. Immediately to the rear of 
this is a strip 200 feet in width intended for the erection of warehouses. 
These are to have commodious spaces between them at points oppo¬ 
site where piers are to be erected for the purpose of affording direct 
connection between the pier and railroad yard. Such places are 
addition^-lly useful for the storage of heavy goods. 

In the rear of the warehouses is located an immense railway freight 
storage 3 "ard, with accommodation for about twenty tracks. Between 
this and the next row of blocks to the north, suitable for the erection 
of factories, is a street 100 feet wide to be devoted to the uses of the 
railroad, and from which spurs through the middle of every factory 
building can be built. All trucks and carts having occasion to do 
business with the manufacturers can do so on the street side of the 
buildings and need have no occasion to cross tracks. As it is the 
intention to reserve this section absolutely for business and manu¬ 
facture, no thoroughfares to the water front for general use are sug¬ 
gested, such a plan being likely to interfere with the econornical 
working of the yard. All freight coming by steamer and destined 
for local consumption can be taken by the terminal company to the 


46 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

freight houses provided at several points north of the railroad right 
of way, all trucks to do business at these points. In this connection, 
too, in order to avoid, as far as possible, the long hauls from outlying 
districts made necessary at the present time by reason of all freight 
terminals being located at or near the water froBt, it is suggested 
that arrangements be made with the local traction companies for the 
establishment of small-freight collecting houses throughout the city, 
by means of which all small-package freight can be sent at certain 
specified times during the day and night to the main freight yard on 
Jamaica Bay. 

We have then set aside on the plan this strip of 640 feet with a 
view to the future, and, as we are supposed to be planning for a some¬ 
what distant future, we have carried this idea beyond Spring Creek 
Basin, and as far east as Hawtree Creek Basin. Beyond this point 
it is not likely that such a system would ever be necessary. It would, 
furthermore, not be wise to encourage such a scheme, because all the 
laws of commercial economy demand concentration of business, and 
because, by the proper utilization of the most improved methods, as 
much heavy freight business can be done in the territory described as 
is now done on the entire island of Manhattan. 

Along the basins, the blocks and streets have been so laid out as to 
provide places for dealers in supplies of all kinds; for lumber, brick, 
and stone yards, coal pockets, etc., to all of which railroad connection 
can readily be made. 

Location of roads to RocJcaway Beach .—We have previoush^^ referred 
in a general way to the necessity of road connection between the main¬ 
land and Rockaway Beach. Before the intervening meadows can be 
expected to reach a perfect state of development, many such road¬ 
ways will be required, but at the very outlet, two, or possibly three, 
seem to be demanded. In the westerly portion of the bay the exten¬ 
sion of Flatbush avenue will perhaps do more to help matters in this 
respect than any other project of which we have any knowledge; and 
no matter what the outcome of the general plan to improve the bay 
may be, it is advisable to begin the construction of this highway. 

We have been given to understand that the Queens County topo¬ 
graphical bureau at the present time has under way the preparation 
of plans for a highway to Rockaway Beach in the easterly portion of 
the bay. This road is to follow at its northerly end the line of the 
Hodman boulevard. Its direction in the southerly portion has not 
finally been determined. One proposition is to cross the iheadows on 
a line running in a southwesterly direction from the old Rockaway 
road at a point about opposite Jamaica Gardens and touching Rock¬ 
away Beach at a point somewhere north of Arverne. The second 
proposition is to follow the Rockaway road, skirt the head of the bay, 
and pass by way of Nassau County into Far Rockaway. It may be 
thrst both of these roads will in time be utilized to advantage; but, 
provided a satisfactory route can be secured nearer to the center of 
the beach, we would suggest for an east-end route the adoption of the 
one around the head of the bay. 

There can be no question that more good will result and more inter¬ 
ests be better served by a road touching the beach near Hollands 
than at any other place. 

The location of this road will in a great measure depend upon the 
adoption of a street S 3 stem by the borough of Queens, and nothing 




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House Doc. No./J<96; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 47 

perhaps would be gained by suggestions in this regard from us. We 
desire, however, to emphasize the necessity for the construction of a 
good drive near the central portion of the hay, and at the same time 
to s' ggest expedition in the matter. 

Filling in islands in the hay and purposes to tvJiicli they shall he de¬ 
voted. —Assuming that blocks C to 1 (inch.sive) upon the plan should 
be shown to be city property, it would seem desirable that these 
sho; Id be reclaimed. Under present conditions they are so many 
acres of waste lands, returning to the city at the very most a few 
tho' sand dollars each year. Were suitable bulkheads or levees con¬ 
structed about these blocks, and the marshes filled to a height si ffi- 
cient to prevent overflow at abnormal tides and to provide proper 
slopes for surface drainage, and if, in addition, a road across the mid¬ 
dle of the bay were completed, there is not the slightest doubt that 
the venti re world prove profitable. 

Of the blocks mentioned, D, E, F, and H will be directly connected 
not only with the Long Island Kailroad, hut also vith the new road 
to be constructed. Block I is hut an outlying portion of Edgemere, 
and with the addition of an inexpensive bridge might enjoy all the 
advantages of being part of the peninsula. In view, then, of these 
facts it wot Id appear that the most practical use that cot Id be made 
ot these blocks (D, E, F, H, and I) woi Id be to reclaim them for the 
purposes of a suburban settlement. With the road connection to 
the mainland, and with the attraction of a seaside resort but a few 
minutes^ distance awa}^, it is reasonable to suppose that a popular 
all-year resort woi Id soon be established. 

To properly accomplish this, the best thing for the city to do would 
be to prepare a detailed plan of these blocks, with all the necessary 
streets and an efficient drainage system, place properrestrictions upon 
the lands, and then sell it in parcels large enoi gh to in si re a fine class 
of dwellings. The revenues from the improvement and sale of certain 
sections cot Id be used to pay interest charges and the balance applied 
to the development of other portions, including those on the mainland 
y^et to be acquired by the city for commercial purposes. The blocks 
marked and upon the plan can likewise be reclaimed when 
the time seems opportune. These blocks will remain isolated, no 
roads ever being likely to touch them unless bridges be hi ilt tying 
them to other islands. We shoi Id hardly advise this, however, since 
situateil as they are they seem admirably adapted to all the require¬ 
ments of many public institutions, and they oi ght to be preserved for 
such pi.rposes. Whatever the objects of such an institution may 
prove to be, whether it be used as a seaside home for poor children, a 
hospital, or a penal institution, isolation would seem to be rather a 
benefit than a detriment. 

Height of bulkheads and piers. —In estimating the cost of the 
improvements to be recommended, we have assumed 5 feet above 
mean high water as a safe height for all bulkheads and piers. This 
is the height adopted by the department of docks ancl ferries. 

Mr. Hoag, assistant engineer in that department, in a paper read 
before the municipal engineers of the city of New York, March 
22, 1905, says that ‘Hhe established height of piers and bulkheads 
was long ago adopted in the department at 5 feet above mean high 
water or at a grade of +9.25; and after an experience of thirty-five 
years the department sees no good reason for deviating from this 


48 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

practice/^ The same writer in another place states that ‘^yie maxi¬ 
mum recorded high water occurred on November 24, 1901, at Pier 
A, when it rose to the elevation of +8 feet/’ This is IJ feet below 
the height of their bulkhead. This height seems to agree with state¬ 
ments made to the commission by old residents about Jamaica Bay, 
to the effect that they have seen the water during very great storm 
tides rise to a point 3 feet above the meadows. 

While it is absolutely necessary to provide a height sufficient to 
prevent overflow‘in times of storm, it must not be forgotten that 
just as there are high high tides, there are low low tides. At the 
time of an extremely low tide the water frequently falls 3 feet below 
mean low-water mark; and during a period like this a scow carry¬ 
ing brick, which is unloaded by passing the material from hand to 
hand, or a sand boat, which is unloaded generally by wheelbarrows, 
would, when heavy, be riding in water the surface of which will 
be 13 feet below the bulkhead. This is the case when the height of 
bulkhead is 5 feet above mean high water. The result of making 
it higher than this would be to seriously interfere with the proper 
working of boats, particularly in the earlier stages of development, 
and would not be required for the purpose of preventing overflow. 
An additional reason for not increasing the height above the figure 
stated is that for every foot added to the bulkhead height the cost 
of constructing these structures is greatly increased. 

Types of bulkheads, with cost .—However sanguine. we may be 
of the success of the whole project, it must not be overlooked that 
it is experimental in its nature. In the beginning, therefore, it would 
be inadvisable to propose permanent bulkheads—that is, structures 
that would endure for a great many years. Whatever is adopted 
must be such as will be sufficient to maintain safely the sand fdl and 
at the same time satisfy the demands made upon it by shipping. The 
bulkhead demanded in the commercial district would naturally be 
different from that required around those blocks to be devoted to 
the use of dwellings or public institutions, although it is possible 
that for economic reasons one type might suit both situations. Some 
simple form of a timber retaining structure would at first sight 
seem best adapted to most conditions. A number of sheet pile 
timber bulkheads are shown on Plates IV to VII, inclusive. They 
consist generally of a front row of piles to which waling pieces are 
fastened on the inside at three places, namely, at the top, at mean 
high-water mark, and at mean low-water mark. Inside of these is 
driven either a single or a double row of sheet piling; the former 
being made of tongue and grooved stuff, the latter having broken 
joints. The tendency of the piles to push out at the top is overcome 
by iron tie-rods carried back to anchor piles driven some distance in 
the rear. These bulkheads are extremely serviceable when the work 
is well done, and they are quite cheap, costing perhaps under ordi¬ 
nary conditions $9 or $11 per running foot, according to the type 
selected. In Jamaica Bay, however, such bulkheads would not 
last more than four or five years. They would be eaten away by 
insects that prey upon wood in salt water, '^^his has been the ex¬ 
perience of the Long Island Railroad Company, which has been 
constantly put to expense for renewals on this account. By properly 
treating with creosote or some other preserving process those parts 
of the bulkheads which would be subject to attack, the life of the 


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House Doc. No. 1506 ; SOth Cong., 2d Sess. 














































































































































































































































































































































KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 49 

structure may be lengthened to perhaps fifteen or twenty years. The 
cost of such treatment is great, however, and a bulkhead costing $11 
per foot without treatment could not be built for much less than 
$16 with treatment. 

Some type of the timber bulkheads shown upon the plates should 
be used along Fresh Creek and Spring Creek basins, also around 
portions of block B, which will also in all probability be used for 
shipping purposes. 

Realizing the short life of untreated timber and the uncertainty as 
to the time that will be required before the reclaimed lands begin to 
pay a profit, we have designed a rubble and riprap wail that may, if 
necessary, be used to surround those blocks in the middle of the bay 
which are to be either disposed of for residences or reserved for insti¬ 
tutions. This wall is shown on Plate VIII. It can be built for about 
$12 per running foot, provided it is set in comparatively shallow water. 
This is entirely feasible, since great depth of water in such places is 
neither necessary nor desirable. Here and there, for the purpose of 
bringing in supplies or to furnish a landing for deep-draft schooners 
and pleasure craft, a short pier may be built out into deeper water 
or a wharf carried out about 25 feet from the bulkhead wall, in the 
manner shown on Plate IX. In such cases, to protect the outer toe 
of the wall, the riprap may be extended out to deep water underneath 
the overhanging platform, this expedient not interfering with the 
work of driving piles. 

It is claimed by dredging contractors that it is a perfectly feasible 
thing to throw up a sod and sand levee that will be amply sufficient 
to maintain any ordinary fill. This can be of any required width, 
and in most cases would not add anything to the cost of reclaiming 
the land, the work of building the levee being considered part of the 
filling. Along those channels, however, where there is a compara¬ 
tively swift current, the outer edge of the levee should be riprapped 
to prevent scour. This could probably be done for about $2.40 per 
running foot. 

For blocks C, D, E, F, G, H, and I it is recommended that, if pos¬ 
sible, the sod and sand levee with a riprap slope be used as a retain¬ 
ing structure; but if this should in any place be deemed impracticable 
it is suggested that the riprap and rubble stone wall be substituted, 
necessitating an extra expense of about $10 per running foot. 

Deaths of water to he secured .—In the remarks on bulkheads, and 
in the cost estimates attached, it has been assumed that in all cases 
these retaining structures are to be placed in moderate depths of 
water for economic reasons. Immediately alongside the islands or 
blocks in the middle of the bay, probably a depth of from 4 to 7 feet 
below mean low water would suffice, overhanging timber platforms 
on piles being added when greater depths are needed. This last 
structure could be considered in the light of a pier, and would in no 
way interfere vdth the proper establishment of the bulkhead lines. 
In case it should be thought preferable, the retaining wall or levee 
could be set back far enough inside the theoretical line so that the 
overhang would, when built, follow that line and not encroach upon 
the waterway. 

Along the front wall of the manufacturing district as well as along 
the sides of all basins a depth of 12 feet at mean low water would 


H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—00-4 



50 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

prove ample; when greater depth of water is required for shipping 
this should be attained by the use of piers along the main water front. 
An overhanging wharf structure on piles may also have to be pro¬ 
vided along this bulkhead in case vessels of deep-draft are obliged 
to shove their prows close to the bulkhead. 

In the basins, although but 12 feet at low water would be req^uired 
in the earlier stages of development, the bulkheads should be so 
designed as to permit a deepening to 16 or 18 feet w^hen necessary, 
and it is believed that this is all that would ever be required. 

These remarks as to the depths in the manufacturing district can 
also be applied to all of the interior of Little Bay Basin. Along the 
exterior line of the solidly filled pier forming the easterly boundary 
of the basin, and along the north shore of Barren Island on the main 
channel, a minimum depth of 20 feet at mean low water should be 
attained, since it is not desirable to have in these places any over¬ 
hanging structures, and provision must be made directly alongside 
for comparatively deep-draft ships. 

In all other parts of the bay not immediately adjacent to bulkhead 
walls, and preferably between pieiliead lines, the depth can be 20 
feet or more, depending upon the demand, and for the purpose of 
making provision for merchant vessels there ought to be at the very 
outset a channel of the said 20 feet depth and 1,000 feet in width as 
far north as Spring Creek. 

As time elapses, and further improvements in the way of land 
reclamation seem to be demanded, all of the bay may be deepened 
to 20 feet or more, care being taken to protect the outer toe of every 
bulkhead wall against undermining. It would, however, be advisa¬ 
ble to keep at all times the depths toward the outlet greater than 
those in the upper reaches of the bay, since greater impetus is given 
to the receding waters by a bottom slope, this impetus being an im¬ 
portant agency in the maintenance of the channel across the bar. 
rrobably for twenty years it will not be necessary to have more than 
12 feet of water in the easterly half of the bay. The demand for land 
may be greater, however, and on this account greater depths can with 
reason be provided than would be required for navigation. 

Quantity of matenal available for filling according to ylan. —In order 
to determine how much filling material was available in the bay a 
careful estimate was made and in its preparation it was assumed that 
every part of the bay within the bulkhead lines as laid down on the 
plan was to be excavated to a depth of 20 feet below mean low 
water. At first glance this assumption may not seem to agree with 
the statements as to depths made above. iHowever, as the estimate 
was merely for the purpose of determining how many cubic yards of 
filling material would be available to fill marsh lands, the assumption 
was considered permissible. To further justify it we have but to 
remark that if in some places water shallower than 20 feet is all that 
will be permitted, the larger portion will allow of a greater depth, 
and in }^ears to come this depth will be an absolute necessity. Upon 
this basis, then, of a depth of 20 feet below mean low water, the esti¬ 
mate was made and the volume of material found to be 330,300,000 
cubic yards. 

Quantity of material necessary to reclaim all the meadow lands in, and 
adjacent to, Jamaica Bay. That an approximate estimate might 


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ANDREW B. GRAHAM CO., RHOTO-LITHOGRAPHERS. WASHINGTON. 0 C. HOUSC DOC. NO. /S06 60th Cong., 2d SCSS. 




























































































REPOB.T OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 51 

be made of the cost of the entire project of filling in every foot of 
meadow in the vicinity of Jamaica Bay, the next step taken was 
the determination of what amount of material would be needed to 
accomplish this work. 

Ihe total amount of land to be reclaimed as laid down on the plan 
is about 15,000 acres. Of this amount 2,300 acres are composed of 
water inclosed—the balance is marsh land. The need of separating 
the acreage into these two divisions in any determination of volume 
is caused by the fact that, in filling in the marshes, allowance must be 
made for the compression that takes place in such a formation when 
weighted with sand. No settlement allowance must be made in the 
waterways, since at the most there would be but a couple of feet of 
mud vdiich would doubtless be pushed in waves to the sides as the 
sand is pumped upon it. 

The allowance made for land settlement of the marshes was based 
upon our own previous experience in other similar places (notably 
at Atlantic City, N. J.), and also upon the recorded observations of 
Mr. Eugene Smith made in 1896 and 1897, while filling meadows 
near the Great South Bay.® Mr. Smith found that when the marsh 
averaged 4.3 feet in thickness a settlement equal to about 15 per cent 
of the thickness resulted from a 3-foot fill. From this, in the absence 
of any better information, was deduced the simple formula; 

.05 X t X h 

in which ; 

t = the thickness of the meadow, 
and h = the height of the fill. 

Since the average of about 160 meadow soundings in the vicinity 
of Jamaica Bay showed an average thickness of meadow of 5 feet, it 
was assumed that sufficient accuracy would be attained by taking 
that thickness as prevailing in all portions of the bay. The formula 
then became: t 

.25 h, 

and was used thro’^ghout as a settlement allowance. 

Except for a few places in Kings County, there has not, of course, 
been established any fixed s3^stem of grades. In the few places 
where such have been laid down upon a chart, the grades are inade¬ 
quate for anything like an extensive improvement. Not having 
any such data upon which to work, we determined that, as a working 
basis, the outer edges of all islands and the water front of all portions 
of the mainland should be brought to a grade of 5 feet above mean 
high ’water, and that from there a uniform grade of 3 inches in each 
100 feet should be allowed from the nearest waterway to all points 
of land to be filled. It may be that when the topograpliical bureaus 
prepare a street system and fix grades for this section of the city, their 
plans may be wholly different from these; but we do not believe that 
any properly prepared street plan will give volumes smaller than 
those given in this report—in other words, we feel that the volumes 
to be given are the smallest that may be depended upon in any 
estimate of cost. 


oSee paper by Eugene R. Smith, Trans. Am. See., C. E., Vol. XXXVII, p. 213.’ 



52 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


The number of cubic yards req^uired to fill every part of the 
meadow as determined upon the lines laid down in the preceding 
paragraphs is 267,815,575. 

It is seen, therefore, from the comparison of this section with 
the preceding one that there is in the bay ample material to fill 
the entire meadow land, if such a step were ever deemed advisable. 
It might be well, however, to call attention to the fact that there 
is a limit to the distance hydraulic dredges can lift and throw sand 
with economy. We believe, however, that by the exercise of all 

E recautions by the city in regard to where material shall be taken 
■om and where pumped, and by using up-to-date dredges, .even 
the extreme parts of the meadow areas may be reached, and therefore 
the statement made above as to having ample material is correct. 

Extent of land to he acquired hy the city .—In Mr. Grout’s commu¬ 
nication to the sinking fund commission the suggestion was made 
that the city purchase all of the marsh lands in the vicinity of Jamaica 
Bay with a view to their ultimate reclamation. While the appoint¬ 
ment of the present commission was, in all probability, due to the 
publication of this pamphlet, the majority of the commission assumed 
that there was nothing in their letters of appointment which indicated 
that a recommendation to purchase the entire marsh was mandatory 
upon them but that they were expected to make a careful examination 
of the matter, and, as a result of such examination, to draw their 
own conclusions. 

The corporation counsel has given it as his opinion that the 
condemnation of this large territory, extending, as it does, a mile 
or more inland, could not be justified on the mere plea for a water¬ 
front improvement; and the writers of this report, as engineers, are 
obliged to confirm this opinion, since no good ground can be set 
up to show that an improvement of the front needs more land than 
is necessary to provide proper facilities for railroad and highway 
communication. The contention that the purchase of the entire 
marsh is a necessary part of such an improvement can hardly be 
sustained for the further reason that, even were it essential to have 
. all the meadow land between the bulkhead line and the upland filled 
in order to reap the full benefits of the improved water front, it 
does not follow that ownership by the city would be required. 
Without doiibt, private owners, when shown the probable increase 
in value of their lands as a result of filling, would be very willing 
to bear a proportionate share of the expense. If the city authori¬ 
ties should think the purchase of all these lands desirable, an act 
could possibly be passed by the legislature permitting the city to 
take them. Assuming that such a step were contemplated, the 
question would naturally arise, will an investment of this kind pay? 
After due thought the majority of the commission are obliged to 
say, no. Their answer is dictated by the following considerations: 

First. The city, after improving its own lands along the lines 
shown on Plate XIX will, without purchase of any kind, be in 
possession of about 4,660 acres, all of which will be upon its hands 
lOJ disposal after filling. 

Second. In case the city s title to land under water can be shown 
to include all the creeks entering into the bay, as well as the land 
under water in the bay itself, it would still be necessary to purchase 
approximately 9,000 acres of land. 





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ANDREW. B. SRAHAM CO,. PHOTO-LITHOQRAPHERS. WASHINGTON, 0. C. 


House Doc. No. / 506 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess 





































































































































































































REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 53 

Third. A careful inquiry into the present asking value of the above 
lands would seem to indicate that none of it can be purchased 
at any point west of Spring Creek for less than S600 per acre; in 
the easterly portion the price may be put at $400. At an average 
price of $500 per acre, the cost of taking over the 9,000 acres would 
be $4,500,000. If interest charges be rated at 4 per cent this figure 
represents an annual outlay of $180,000, and if the bonds mature in 
3 ^ears and interest be calculated at the same rate, $47,500 per 
year will be required to provide a sinking fund, making a total 
yearly outlay of $227,500. This merely provides for the purchase of 
the lands. 

Fourth. These lands, however, may be said to be unable, in their 
present condition, to produce a revenue of any sort to the city. It 
would be necessary to reclaim and improve them, and if the ultimate 
intention is to sell, it would be policy to do the reclaiming as quickly 
as possible, for while they remain waste they return nothing. Leai^ 
ing by a city of large territories for building sites is out ofdhe question. 

Fifth. To reclaim all of the marshes under the plan (having in 
mind that the fixing of the bulkhead lines causes larger territories 
to be filled than appears at present) will require, as we have pre¬ 
viously said, 267,816,000 cubic yards. The most economical way 
to fill these lands is to pump the material from the bottom of the 
bay, since even if the ashes and refuse of the city are used for filling, 
it would prove more economical to deposit these in a convenient place 
and pump them than to haul by land. The unit price for dredging 
under favorable conditions has been reduced as low as 8 cents per 
cubic yard, but few people realize how very far from completion a 
land-filling enterprise is when the mere filling is completed. There 
is always more or less trimming, carting, and covering to be done, so 
that no smaller figure than 10 cents per cubic yard ought to be con¬ 
sidered. At this figure the cost of reclaiming the entire meadow in 
and adjacent to the bay would be $26,781,600. 

Sixth. The above figures assume that a sod and sand levee will be 
a sufficient retaining structure and that this will cost nothing. We 
have shown though, that, even with this form of embankment, a 
riprap protection will probably be needed that will cost perhaps 
$2.40 per linear foot, or about $12,672 per mile. As there are 84 
miles of water front, not including Rockaway Beach, it will be seen 
that the cost for this simple, and in most places inadequate, protec¬ 
tion would be $1,064,400. As a matter of fact, much of the main 
frontage, if destined for business purposes, will need a strong sub¬ 
stantial preserved timber bulkhead. This will cost at least $16 per 
running foot, and as along the east end of Little Bay Basin and along 
the channel to the inlet a rather expensive bulkhead, costing perhaps 
$72 per foot, will be needed on account of the great depth, the cost 
for bulkheading a very large part will be very little short of $20 per 
foot. Let us say that all the blocks in the interior of the bay are to 
have a sand levee with riprap slopes at $2.40 per foot; that the east 
side of the solidly filled pier at Little Bay Basin and the north side of 
the main channel leading to Rockaway Inlet require a substantial 
concrete wall on a pile foundation to cost $72 per loot (Plate X); and 
that the balance is to have a substantial creosoted bulkliead at $16 


54 KEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION. 


per foot—our total cost for improving the marsh lands would then be 
approximately as follows: 


Cost of land, 9,000 acres, at $500. 500, 000 

Filling 267,816,000 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 26, 781, 600 

237,600 linear feet timber bulkhead, at $16. 3, 801, 600 

12,100 linear feet concrete bulkhead, at $72. 871, 200 

195,300 linear feet sand levee, at $2.40. 468, 200 


Total... 36,423,120 


Seventh. In all estimates of this character it is customary to add 
a certain percentage for engineering expenses. If this be taken as 
6 per cent of the cost of construction, which in this case amounts to 
$31,923,120, we would be obliged to add $1,595,750 for this item. 
The total cost now becomes $38,018,900. The annual outlay for 
interest on 4 per cent bonds would amount to $1,520,750. In addi¬ 
tion a certain si’m m^st be set aside yearly for the redemption of the 
bonds. Asstiming these to be due in forty 3 "ears, and that interest 
at 4 per cent will be collected on deposits, it will be seen that about 
$400,000 must be put aside yearly for this purpose alone, making 
the outlay $1,920,000 per year. 

It maybe said that this argument is fallacious—that the common- 
sense way would be to reclaim certain portions, sell them, and invest 
the returns in reclaiming more. Thus, it may be argued, sufficient 
funds would always be on hand with which to keep on with the 
work. This, at first, sounds reasonable, but it must not be for¬ 
gotten that in the cost data given above no allowance was made 
for public improvements. No provision was made for the construc¬ 
tion of water mains, of sewers, sidewalks, or pavements, all of which 
improvements are given to the purchaser of lots by real-estate 
speculators. Neither were allowances made for the construction of 
piers, sheds, or the terminal railway tracks, all of which might prove 
to be primary necessities of the improved section. If the sale of 
lots keeps pace with the cost of constructing the necessary improve¬ 
ments, it will be doing quite as well as can be expected, and there 
is little hope that there would be sufficient returns to pay interest 
charges in addition, and at the same time provide a sinking fund. 
Again, there is no certainty that a great demand will be made for 
this reclaimed land. Even with every improvement provided and 
admitting the admirable location of portions of the land in ques¬ 
tion, it will probably turn out that the city will have the same expe¬ 
rience that individuals have had in this respect, namely, that all 
of the choice lots will soon be bought up, leaving the poorest in its 
possession. From such lots there would be no return whatever, since 
they would not be taxable. 

There is still another way of approaching the question of the 
probable demand for building sites. This is by estimating the 
density of population in any specified locality at a definite period. 
As an example, let us take the thirty-second ward in the borough 
of Brookl 3 m. This ward borders on the bay. In the year 1905 it 
had a population of 13,232, and its area amounted to 14,082 acres. 
It is evident, therefore, that there was but one person per acre living 
in the thirty-second ward in the year 1905. Let us see how many 
people will be found residing there twenty years from now, the rate 
of increase being taken at 6 per cent per year and compounded. 










EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 55 

The rate of increase assumed is but one-half its present rate of 
growth, but it is nearly twice the rate of growth of all of Kings 
County. There is found by this means a population of 42,435, which, 
while larger than the present population of the twenty-ninth ward, 
or the old towm of Flatbush, shows nevertheless but three people 
to the acre. • Expressed in another way, this is less than one family 
to the acre; so that if the city should purchase all of this marsh land 
it would be found that in the year 1925, 13 out of every 14 lots would 
still be unoccupied. 

It is sometimes pointed out that the State of Massachusetts has 
made large sums from the reclamation of the extensive flats upon 
which the city of Boston is built. In this case, however, the rights 
were originally invested in the State and it was not necessary to 
purchase the land, and hence no burden was placed upon the people 
during a long period of slow and laborious development. That these 
lands adjacent to Jamaica Bay will eventually be very valuable there 
can be no doubt, but it will take years to make them so and the pro¬ 
cess will be gradual. It would, therefore, to our minds, be unjust to 
place such a great burden upon the people of the present generation 
in order that immense benefits might be derived by those still unborn. 
We believe, however, that a start should be made, that parcels in 
moderate size should be taken, that these should be sufficiently large 
to provide room for all those improvements that are necessary to 
properly stimulate and foster manufacturing and commerce upon 
these shores—but that all else should be left either in the hands of 
private owners or should await a later period for development. 

It is therefore recommended that the city purchase all those parcels 
that lie in blocks M, N, O, P, and Q, as indicated by hatching upon 
the plan. These parcels aggregate 431 acres, and at a price of $750 
per acre would cost $323,250. The price of $750 per acre was fixed 
because it was thought that where the city ’was to take all the 
fi’ontage, the owners would naturally ask a larger figure in lieu of 
damages, for shutting off their access to the water front. All of the 
land purchased west of Spring Creek should be immediately bulk¬ 
headed and filled with sand pumped from the adjoining waterways. 
The part east of Spring Creek should not be developed at present 
except such portions of it as are necessary for developing a road to 
Kockaway Beach, as previously recommended. 

In addition to the purchase of the land just indicated, it is further 
suggested that quicker money returns might possibly be obtained if 
the entire marsh land included within blocks N and O be filled at the 
same time that the city is filling in the front. Therefore, if an agree¬ 
ment can be entered into with private owners, by which they would 
consent to the reclamation of their lands, it is recommended that the 
city purchase in addition to the lands already described, all the land 
contained in any authorized system of streets, the purchase to be 
made before filling at marsh land prices. The whole should then be 
reclaimed, the owner paying merely for filling his lots. The city 
would be obliged to pay for filling the streets in addition to its water¬ 
front property, and would, of course, be required to build all such 
bulkheads as abut upon its property. 

Below will be found an estimate' of the total cost of improving 
Jamaica Bay in accordance with the plan proposed. This estimate 
is based upon the assumption that the city will build a sand levee 


56 KEPOET OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

with a riprap slope around all of blocks C, D, E, F, G, II, and I, and 
fill in these blocks to a proper grade; that all of block B and that 
part of block L from the Lateral Canal to the south side of Bergen 
Beach will also be brought to grade and suitable timber or concrete 
bulkheads constructed, and, in addition, that all of the water-front 
land to be purchased by the city in the Fresh Creek district be bulk¬ 
headed and reclaimed. Further included is the land necessary to 
enlarge Canarsie Park, as proposed in the text, along with the cost 
of filling all the' lowlands in said park. In the first estimate no 
account was taken of the probable cost of carrying out the proposi¬ 
tion to make an agreement with private owners to improve those 
parts of blocks N and O, not included in what might be termed the 
water-front lands. 


FIRST ESTIMATE. 


Estimated cost of the Jamaica Bay improvement, as recom¬ 
mended in this majority report: 


Block B: 

Filling 16,231,800 cubic yards, at 10 cents. $1, 623,180 

Bulkhead— 

Concrete on timber platform, 12,140 linear feet, at .S72. 874, 080 

Sheet pile bulkhead, 32,760 linear feet, at $16. 524,160 


- Block L: 

Filling 1,488,800 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 148, 880 

Sheet pile bulkhead, 7,280 linear feet, at $16. 116, 480 


Block M, Canarsie Park: 

Land to be purchased, 7 acres, at $750. 5, 250 

Filling 1,360,400 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 136, 040 


Blocks N and O: 

Land to be purchased,' 283 acres, at $750. 212, 250 

Filling 2,97i,500 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 297,150 

Sheet pile bulkhead, 25,610 linear feet, at $16. 409, 760 


Blocks P and Q, land to be purchased, 141 acres, at $750. 105, 750 

Blocks C, D, E, F, G, H, and I: 

Filling 78,367,500 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 7, 836, 750 

Sand embankment with riprap slope, 193,230 linear feet, 
at $2.40.*.. 463,750 


$3, 021, 420 

265, 360 

141, 290 

919,160 
105, 750 

8, 300, 500 


12, 753, 480 

If an agreement can be reached with the private owners of blocks 
N and O on the basis previously outhned, we must add to the above 
estimate of cost the following: 

Estimated cost of additional filling to be done on blocks N and O 
for grading streets: 

Land to be purchased for grading streets, 315 acres, at $650.$204 750 

TT^ 'll* 1 i-ty-v ^ 


Filling, 6,071,300 cubic yards, at 10 cents. 607,130 

-^- $811, 880 

First estimate, brought forward. 12, 753, 480 


Total, second estimate. 13 ^ 565 ^ 360 


In the opinion of the commission, however, it is not considered 
advisable to carry out all of these improvements at once. It would 

























REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 57 

be better if the more urgent should be immediately attended to, leav¬ 
ing the lymainder until the demand is greater or until the revenue from 
the earlier development would materially assist in defraying the ex¬ 
pense of a later one. 

It will probably be admitted that the chief need of Jamaica Bay 
and its adjacent territory at the present time is channels of sufficient 
depth to permit vessels of moderate draft to navigate with safety. 
With these assured, we believe that this growing section of the city 
would quickly respond and would not fail to set in motion the kind of 
land improvements best adapted to the region. The material secured 
from the dredged channels should be used to fill those parts of the 
marsh land which would seem to promise the best results if reclaimed, 
regard being had for economy in disposal. 

Keeping, then, tliis idea in mind, it is recommended that all of blocks 
B, N, and O, part of block L, the Canarsie Park enlargement, and all 
of block F be at once reclaimed by material pumped from the adjacent 
channels. Blocks B, L, N, and O are all on the main water front, pre¬ 
cisely where a channel is needed to open to commerce the territory east 
of Canarsie. The enlargement of Canarsie Park will aid materially by 
providing a place of disposal for the material out of that portion of 
the channel which would pass near it. It is recommended that the 
channel should be at least 20 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide. All 
of Fresh Creek Basin and Spring Creek Basin should be excavated 
to 12 feet, and the same depth should be provided throughout 
Little Bay Basin. Later these basins can be deepened—the former 
to 16 feet throughout, the latter to 20 feet outside of pierhead lines 
and between piers. Between bulkhead and pierhead lines in front 
of blocks M, N, and O and in front of portions of blocks B and L 12 
feet should be secured. At present block F is the only one of those 
recommended for immediate improvement that might be termed city 
property. The city’s title to this block is practically assured. It was 
picked out of all the others as being the one which seemed to promise 
most. It is, first of all, the nearest one to the beach—a fact not to be 
overlooked in the founding of a suburban settlement that is to be used 
chiefly by summer residents. Ready communication between this 
block and the beach is already provided by the Long Island Railroad, 
and should the recommendation to build a boulevard across the marsh 
at this point be adopted additional means of travel between them can 
be utilized. Moreover, the block is so shaped that in reclaiming it a 
large portion of the suggested boulevard will be built at the same time, 
thereby considerably reducing the cost of that construction. Prob¬ 
ably the greatest advantage to be secured from the selection of this 
particular block will result from the fact that the material to be used 
in reclaiming it will be taken from the three most important channels 
in the bay, viz. Beach Channel, Broad Channel, and the Raunt. 
Upon the completion of the filling of tliis block steamers df’awing 20 
feet at mean low water could proceed up any one of these channels 
as far as the Long Island Railroad. It is suggested also that this 
. block F should be the one selected by the street-cleaning department 
for the disposal of such city ashes as come by boat. 


' 58 REPOKT OP JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


The estimated cost of the improvements recommended in the last 
paragraph is as follows: 

THIRD ESTIMATE. 

Block B, filling (see first estimate). 

Block L, filling (see first estimate).. 

Block M, purchase of land and filling (see_first estimate)... 

Blocks N and O, purchase of land and filling (see first estimate). 

Blocks P and Q, purchase of land (see first estimate). 

Block F: 

Filling 6,048,065 cubic yards, at $0.10... $604, 800 

Sand embankment with riprap slopes, 24,530 linear feet, at 
$2.40. 58, 870 


Additional for purchasing and filling street system blocks N and 0, as per 
second estimate. 


Add 5 per cent for engineering and legal expenses 


Upon the general plan, Plate XIX, is shown the 1,000-foot channel 
suggested from Barren Island to Spring Creek; also the outlines of 
sections to be dredged adjacent to the easterly boundary of blocks 
B and L, as well as those in front of blocks N and O. 

In connection with the dredging of this 1,000-foot waterway the 
commission desire to call attention to the fact that an appropriation 
for doing this work or a part of it might possibly be secured from the 
National Government. In the event of success attending an efibrt 
to improve the entrance channel of Rockaway Inlet, it is thought 
that little trouble would be encountered in securing the necessary 
aid for an interior channel as far as Spring Creek. At any rate, it is 
advised that a suggestion of this kind be made by the dock commis¬ 
sioner, or some other legally authorized representative of the city 
government at the time said commissioner shall meet the govern¬ 
ment engineers, as arranged for in the river and harbor bill in the 
last session of Congress. 

The National Government in making estimates of the cost of 
dredging do so generally upon the assumption that the final disposal 
of material is to be at sea. On this account the price per cubic yard 
for dredging Coney Island Channel was placed, in the recent report, 
at 30 cents. By an arrangement with the city to the effect that 
dredgings from the bay could be placed upon the city’s land, the 
cost to the Government would be but 10 cents. If this idea be car¬ 
ried out, a fine channel could be secured throughout a great part of 
the bay at relatively small cost to the National Government; at the 
same time the cost of the Jamaica Bay improvement to the city 
would be reduced by the amount expended by the Government. 

Below is shown an estimate of the cost of dredging the main 1,000- 
foot channel as shown upon the plan. By deducting the cost of this * 
work from the total as given in the third estimate, there is found the 
amount required to be expended by the city for the initial improve¬ 
ment of Jamaica Bay, provided the Federal Government defrays the 
cost of the channel. 


$3, 021, 420 
265, 360 
141, 290 
919,160 
105, 750 


663, 670 


5,116, 650 
811,880 


5, 928, 530 
296, 470 


6 , 225, 000 















EEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 59 

FOURTH ESTIMATE. 

Estimated cost of 1,000-foot channel from Barren Island to Spring 
Creek, which it is suggested that the Government dredge: 

Section 1, 122,553,000 cubic feet. 

Section 2, 74,679,800 cubic feet. 

Section 3, 104,985,000 cubic feet. 

Section 4, 153,432,000 cubic feet. 


^ 455,649,800 cubic feet, 16,876,000 cubic yards, at $0.10. $1, 687, 600 

Estimated cost by third estimate (not including engineering expenses) .. 5, 928, 530 

Deduct cost of 1,000-foot channel. 1^ 687, 600 


4,240,930 

Add 5 per cent for engineering expenses. 212, 000 


4, 452, 930 

SUMMARY OF MAJORITY REPORT ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF JAMAICA 

BAY. 

The conclusions which the commission have reached in regard to 
the treatment and development of Jamaica Bay may be briefly 
summed up as follows: 

1. That the growth of New York in every respect is continuous 
and large and that if it is to hold the trade that will naturally come 
to it in the future, proper provision in the matter of wharves, piers, 
etc., must be made for shippers and manufacturers. 

2. That most of that portion of the shore front of Manhattan which 
is adapted to business is now in use, that greater facilities in that 
borough can only be secured at enormous expense, and furthermore 
that even these improvements will do little to relieve the present 
congestion. 

3. That as a result of the above we believe that the time is fast 
approaching when the city will be compelled to make use of portions 
of the water front in its other boroughs and that for business reasons, 
if for no other, steps in this direction should at once be taken. 

4. That it is our opinion that no place in any part of Greater New 
York offers greater opportunities for profitable investments than the 
territory in and adjacent to Jamaica Bay. 

5. That, aside from the relief which the use of these marsh lands 
and waterways would afford the entire city, the needs of over 200,000 
people now residing in the wards immediately adjoining the bay seem 
to demand an extensive improvement of the shore front in that 
vicinity. 

6. That when the question of title is finally settled it will probably 
be shown that the holdings of the city itself in Jamaica Bay are very 
large, amounting probably to over 3,500 acres, besides all the land 
under water. If these lands were properly developed, they could be 
made to yieM an adequate return for a considerable expenditure. 
The city would receive in addition to this the revenues from the 
increased value of all adjoining lands. 

7. That the work of dredging the necessary inside waterways, 
reclaiming the city’s own lands and constructing the necessary high¬ 
ways joining all sections of the territory, including Rockaway Beach, 
can be done at relatively small cost. 








60 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

8. That there is, however, at the present time a serious obstacle 
in the way of any large improvement by reason of the presence of a 
sand bar at the entrance to Rockaway Inlet. The army engineers 
have on several occasions adversely reported upon the improvement 
of this inlet and have expressed their belief that to maintain a channel 
across the bar would mean a very large yearly expenditure and tliat 
an improvement of the inlet by constructive works is impracticable. 

9. That we ourselves are convinced that a dredged channel to the 
w^estward through the inlet would not only cost a large yearly sum, 
but would be so uncertain as to position and depth as to cause manu¬ 
facturers and investors to hesitate before locating their works upon 
the shores of the bay. This fact would render hazardous very large 
expenditures by the city. 

10. That we are, however, convinced that a permanent improve¬ 
ment of Rockaway Inlet can be accomplished by the construction of 
jetties, as fully explained in the body of this report, and that such 
works as are necessary could be built for a sum approximating 
$1,000,000, and at the same time little or no expense would be 
entailed for maintenance. 

11. That the improvement is demanded not only by the needs of 
Jamaica Bay, but by reason of the fact that the large and constant 
growth westward of Rockaway. Inlet tends to do serious injury to 
the whole port of New York by threatening, even though it be remotely, 
the very existence of Ambrose Channel. 

12. That an entrance to Jamaica Bay by way of the Gravesend 
Ship Canal would be very costly, would greatly interfere with the 
traffic between Coney Island and the mainland, would tend to 
greatly injure all of New York Harbor, and would greatly delay the 
development of Jamaica Bay for the purposes of commerce. 

13. That the purchase and development of all the marsh land 
adjacent to Jamaica Bay is not at present permissible by law, and 
even if it were, such a step would involve too large an expenditure 
for an enterprise that in many respects must be looked upon as an 
experiment, and would, moreover, unnecessarily burden men of the 
present generation for the benefit of those yet unborn. 

14. That in the event of the improvement of Rockaway Inlet, 
however, the city should purchase certain portions of the bay front 
as outlined below, since these would appear to promise immediate 
returns. 

In view of the above, it is recommended: 

First. That such city officials as are delegated to represent the city 
in the conference to be held with the federal authorities on this mat¬ 
ter of the Jamaica Bay improvement as provided for in the river and 
harbor act of the last session of Congress, be instructed to urge 
strongly upon the War Department the necessity of the army engi¬ 
neers again taking up the question of improving Rockaway Inlet 
with a view to their giving final expression to an exhaustive opinion 
as to whether this entrance problem can or can not be satisfactorily 
solved. 

Second. That until the final adjustment of the matter of the en¬ 
trance, the city should spend no money whatsoever in the develop¬ 
ment of Jamaica Bay for industrial purposes. For other purposes 
expenditure should be limited to the construction of such highways 
as are necessary to open up the seashore to the public. 


EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 61 

Third. That in any case, therefore, it is advisable to at once begin 
the construction of a boulevard or highway along the southerly ex¬ 
tension of Flatbush avenue as far as Barren Island and, when neces¬ 
sary, to provide connection to Rockaway Beach to the city’s pos¬ 
sessions. 

Fourtli. That a highway to the populous part of Rockaway Beach 
from a convenient place on the north shore of the bay near the divi¬ 
sion line of Kings and Queens counties be constructed, but the precise 
location of such a highway should be determined by the topograph¬ 
ical department. 

Fifth. That in addition to the above-mentioned highway and the 
Flatbush avenue extension a third road be laid down in the easterly 
end of the bay. A plan for such a highway is now being prepared 
by the Queens County topographical bureau, and the matter of its 
s precise location will be determined by that department. 

Sixth. That the dock commissioner be authorized to prepare at 
the earliest possible moment a detailed bulkhead and pierhead line 
plan along the lines herein recommended (see PI. XIX), and to sub¬ 
mit same to the national harbor line board for approval. This is 
particularly recommended for the north shore of Rockaway Beach, 
where delay in the establishment of lines is the cause of much con¬ 
fusion and possibly of loss to the city. 

Seventh. Provided the problem of the entrance to Jamaica Bay 
is solved satisfactorily, it is recommended, in addition to all the above, 
that the city eventually bulkhead and reclaim by filling all of its own 
possessions in Jamaica Bay, indicated upon the plan as blocks C to I, 
inclusive. 

Eighth. That the city purchase all those portions of blocks N, O, 
P, and Q, indicated by hatching upon the plan. 

Ninth. That the land purchased in blocks N and O be properly 
bulkheaded and reclaimed by filling. 

Tenth. That all of block B and part of block L, as shown upon the 
plan, be bulkheaded and reclaimed by filling. 

Eleventh. That Canarsie Park be enlarged by the purchase of the 
small piece of marsh land shown by hatching on block M, and that 
all the lowland and land under water out to the new bulkhead line 
be reclaimed and that provision be made at the same time for a bath¬ 
ing beach. This is shown upon block M of the plan. The cost of the 
improvements embodied in items seventh and eleventh, inclusive, 
will be about $12,750,000. 

Twelfth. If an agreement can be reached with the private owners 
of lands in blocks N and O, then it is further recommended that the 
city purchase at marsh land prices all of the land lying in any au¬ 
thorized system of streets and that these streets, together with all 
marsh lots in the said blocks, be then reclaimed by filling, the city 
paying merely for those portions within the street lines. The cost 
of the improvements embodied in items seventh to twelfth, inclusive, 
would be approximately $13,500,000. 

Thirteenth. The above estimate is for the eventual improvement. 
At the very beginning, or, as has been said before, as soon as the 
problem of the entrance is satisfactorily settled, it is recommended 
to make the following improvements: 

(a) To purchase lands in blocks M, N, O, P, and Q, as aforesaid. 


62 EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

(h) To purchase land for streets in blocks N and O, provided the 
above-stated agreement can be made with private owners. 

(c) To reclaim, by filling, all of the low land in Canarsie Park; to 
build a sand levee about block F and reclaim said block by filling; 
to build a creosoted sheet pile bulkhead about blocks N and O and 
to reclaim by fdling; to build a creosoted sheet pile bulkhead about 
part of block L and reclaim by filling; to surround block B partly 
by a* creosoted sheet pile and partly by a concrete bulkhead on a 
timber platform, and to reclaim the whole by filling. 

The project included under the thirteenth item would cost about 
$6,225,000, and is the improvement most highly recommended by 
this commission. 

Fourteenth. In reclaiming the lands outlined in the thirteenth 
item, it is recommended that Fresh Creek basin. Spring Creek basin, 
and Little Bay basin, as shown upon the plan, be excavated to a 
depth of 12 feet, that immediately in front of blocks N and 0 and 
in front of portions of blocks B and L 12 feet of water be secured, 
and that outside of this a 20-foot channel, 1,000 feet wide, be pro¬ 
vided from Barren Island to Spring Creek, so as to permit boats 
drawing that much water to approach Canarsie and the Fresh Creek 
district at mean low tide. 

Fifteenth. That the Federal Government be strongly urged to 
defray the expense of the 1,000-foot inside channel from Barren 
Island to Spring Creek, thereby reducing the cost of item thirteenth 
to about $4,450,000. 

Itemized estimates under the different projects are given in the 
concluding paragraphs of the report. None of the estimates include 
the cost of constructing roads, since the final plans for these will 
naturally emanate from the highway department. For this com¬ 
mission to attempt to give figures upon these without knowing the 
precise location, the character of the pavement, the Idnd of bridges 
to be used, or what portion of the improvement would belong properly 
to a Jamaica Bay improvement and what to regular street improve¬ 
ments would be mere guesswork. This item, then, must be added 
to the figures given above as soon as the final street plan is adopted. 

The question of title to part of block B and part of block L is still 
a doubtful matter. It is thought that the city may be able to estab¬ 
lish title to much of this. In case it is not able to do so it would be 
necessary to add to the estimates given in this report the cost of 
purchasing the land included in any authorized system of streets. 

In concluding this report upon the improvement of Jamaica Bay, 
we might say it is our belief that if the above recommendations be 
carried out, a work will have been inaugurated that will be highly 
profitable to the city as a whole, that will afford a much-needed 
relief to Manhattan, and that will moreover confer far-reaching 
benefits upon the people of those wards which border upon the bay 
and who are even now really in need of water transportation for 
their commodities. 


KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 63 

Majority report “upon the general condition of the water front of the boroughs of the 
Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond, with recommendations as to the points 
at which the city should acquire land for the purpose of building public docks, 
together with such plans as may be necessary for the development of the interior 
waterways.” 

In the foregoing report upon the improvement of Jamaica Bay it 
was pointed out that the commerce of the port of New York continues 
to grow at a rapid rate, that the borough of Manhattan is much con¬ 
gested, and that relief there can be secured only after great expense. 
Attention was also called to the fact that the time has apparently 
arrived when New York must look for aid in this respect to its other 
boroughs. The improvement of Jamaica Bay will contribute much 
to this end in the future by providing admirable sites for manufac¬ 
tures, but this, however, is not all that is required. The present 
and probable future demands of other sections must be regarded, the 
nature and way of entrance into the port of increased traffic should 
be inquired into and proper provision should be made for this trade. 

Loss of commercial supremacy and decline in export trade may be 
due to other causes than inadequate tributary waterways and dis¬ 
criminating freight rates. The shipper or manufacturer in choosing 
a route regards but one thing, and that is the actual total cost of 
sending his goods from the shop or wareroom to their final destina¬ 
tion. The cost of handling at points of change is a vital element in 
any estimate of cost, and it follows, therefore, that proper terminal 
facilities have as much to do with determining the route of shipment 
as the relative cost of rail and water transportation to the port of 
transshipment. 

The commerce of the city of New York has been injured in the 
past by neglect upon the part of the State to so improve its canals as 
to offer shippers the same advantages as were being offered by water¬ 
ways to Montreal and some of the Gulf ports. The completion of 
the improvements now in progress for the enlargement of the canals 
will do much to remove this obstacle in the path of New York City’s 
progress, and care should be taken that no lack of foresight in the 
establishment of well-equipped terminals shall prevent its taking full 
advantage of the increased opportunities. 

If the great expectations of the canal enlargement advocates are 
even partly realized the increased trade from that source alone will 
tax the city’s facilities to the utmost, and every effort should be made 
to meet the demands. • Terminals, then, are what seem to be most 
needed, and these should be built upon carefully selected sites and 
should be perfectly equipped. In a city as large and extensive as 
New York, the local consumption alone is enormous, and it would 
seem that the most practical method of procedure would be to provide 
in due time terminals in each of the boroughs. 

An examination of the Brooklyn shore front reveals the fact that 
almost all of it is in the hands of private owners. This control of the 
water front by individuals has brought, in most cases, the factories 
and warehouses directly on the water front, and, judged merely from 
the standpoint of business, this is the ideal arrangement. It is clear 
that no advantage would be secured by the city’s invasion of territory 
thus improved and properly utilized—it would be costly and unwise. 

The shore front of the borough of Brooklyn extends from Jamaica 
Bay on the south to Newtown Creek on the north. Of this, the portion 


64 KEPOET OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

which borders on Coney Island is, obviously, not available; then comes 
Gravesend Bay with its wide cove of shallow water and all but a very 
small part exposed to the direct action of the sea. For the convenience 
of builders and contractors, who naturally want short haul for their 
materials, and for the purpose of helping householders by affording a 
suitable landing place for supplies, public piers might with advantage 
be established when needed at intervals along this section of shore, but 
that is all that would ever be required. The government reservation 
at Fort Hamilton is just north of Gravesend Bay, and beyond that, 
along the Bay Bidge shore as far as the Sixty-fifth street terminal of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, the shore drive and the physical conforma¬ 
tion of the adjoining territory preclude any water-front improvement, 
except one or two piers for the aforesaid purpose of assisting builders, 
contractors, and local tradesmen. From Sixty-fifth street north to 
Erie basin the most desirable water-front propert}^ in the borough of 
Brooklyn is located. Piers almost twice as long as the largest now 
in existence in Manhattan are already built in this vicinity, while 
more are contemplated. Water 35 feet deep is readily secured. By 
far the larger portion of this fine water front is now in control of the 
Bush Terminal Company, and the great development that is taking 
place in this part of Brooklyn is in a large measure due to the men 
behind this venture. This company has done a great work in restor¬ 
ing to Brooklyn the prestige which it long maintained as a manufac¬ 
turing center and which it was fast losing at the time of the inaugu¬ 
ration of the Bush enterprise. The plant is almost ideal in its con¬ 
ception and execution. Two model factory buildings are already 
built and occupied, and eighteen more are planned; many warehouses 
have been constructed, while a terminal railway runs from Twenty- 
eighth street to Sixty-fifth street, connecting with all factories and 
warehouses, as well as with all the piers. The southerly terminus of 
this railway is the Sixty-fifth street yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 
In addition there is a large car j^ard provided with connection by 
means of car floats to all the trunk-line railroads, so that it may truly 
be said that it is hardly possible to improve upon the arrangements 
that are found here, and that a manufacturer located in one of these 
model factories is ideally situated, both for the reception of his raw 
material and for the discharge of his finished wares. The Bush Com¬ 
pany control the water front from Thirty-ninth street to Fifty-first 
street. The block between Fifty-first street jand Fifty-second street 
is held by the State for the armory of the Second Naval Battalion. 
South of this are the E. W. Bliss Projectile Company, the Kings 
County Lighting Company, the Morse Iron Works, and the Bay 
Ridge Yacht basin. 

Recently the dock commissioner recommended the purchase of the 
water front between Fifty-seventh street and Sixty-first street, and’ 
between Twenty-eighth street and Thirty-seventh street. These 
parcels are really the only unimproved ones of any marked value 
along this part of the shore, and the recommendation to acquire these 
is in the opinion of tliis commission one that can not be too liighly 
commended. If proper care is taken to control a sufficient amount 
of the upland back of the bulkhead, so that proper provision can be 
made for warehouses and railway tracks in the manner adopted by 
the Bush Company, excellent results will no doubt be attained. The 



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ANDREW. B. GRAHAM CO.. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHERS. WASHINGTON. D. C. 
















































































































REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 65 

purchase of these two sections of water front makes possible one un¬ 
broken line of improvements from Sixty-fifth street as far north as 
the south bank of Gowanus Creek, and this section alone will do very 
much indeed to relieve the city’s commercial congestion. On the 
north side of Gowanus Creek Channel in the Erie basin section there 
is still an excellent piece of waterfront unimproved. It possesses all 
but one of the advantages of the plot at the foot of Twenty-eightli 
street. We refer to the upland and land under water bounded by 
Erie basin, Bryant street, Clinton street, and Gowanus Creek. We 
have prepared a sketch of tliis territory and we would suggest that the 
dock commissioner be requested to examine this ground very care- 
fidly with a view to the final acquisition of a portion of it by the city. 
The one disadvantage lies in the lack of direct railway connection, 
but this can be practically overcome by car floats. (See PL XI). 

The balance of Gowanus Creek and Gowanus Canal is useless from 
the city’s standpoint. The banks are almost entirely occupied at the 
present time and a large business in coal, lumber, building material, 
and miscellaneous goods is annually done there. 

Going from Gowanus Creek northward is found the Erie basin, 
with its many floating and graving docks, the Atlantic basin, with 
its fine piers and warehouses, and from there to Brooklyn Bridge, more 
piers, all of which are part of the property of the New York Dock 
Company. Everytliing between this point and the mouth of New¬ 
town Creek is in use. In this section is found the Wall about basin, 
with the United States navy-yard, the sugar refineries, the coffee 
industries, a number of ferries, terminal and freight stations of sev¬ 
eral railroads, besides severarpiers devoted to general use and recrea¬ 
tion. In all of this section the commission found nothing that 
could in any sense be looked upon as a profitable investment for the 
cit}^ 

The north shore of Bushwick Creek has some attractive features 
about it and might by proper treatment be turned to good account, 
but there does not seem to be any great demand for improvements at 
that point at this time. 

At the north side of the entrance to Newtown Creek, however, 
there is a section of water front which the commission consider has 
possibilities. It is now occupied by a lumber company, which uses 
it for storage purposes only. There are no structures of any kind 
upon the property except an open shed. The land is all bulkheaded, 
but not to the limiting lines, and no advantage has as yet been taken 
of the right to carry structures to the pierhead line. It is possible to 
build here two or three piers, each over 600 feet long. In addition to 
this there is a large frontage on the creek and one short block away 
is what is known as the Eastern Terminal, running through Pigeon 
street, for the use of the New York Sugar Kefining Company. Tvm 
blocks away is the terminal of the Long Island Kabroad, so that, with 
very little trouble, good rail connection could be made to the water 
front at this point. (See PI. XII.) 

Inside of Newtown Creek another enterprise of the dock commis¬ 
sioner is the contemplated improvement of the easterly side of Whale 
Creek Canal. Here it is proposed to build a new bulkhead and two 
piers each about 600 feet long. We believe that the execution of this 
plan will prove to be of great benefit to this section of Brooklyn and 


H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—09-5 



66 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

that it will do much to attract manufacturing industries to the land 
lying between the creek and Greenpoint avenue. 

Much of the territory in this part of the city is given up to the uses 
of factories, lumber dealers, etc., and next to the South Brooklyn 
shore the border line of Newtown Creek offers perhaps the best induce¬ 
ments to investors. As a matter of fact, this entire waterway pre¬ 
sents at all times a scene of business and, granting some further im¬ 
provements by means of which steamers would not be compelled to 
discharge into lighters, but could make their way well up toward the 
head of navigation and discharge at the pier or wharf of the consignee, 
still greater territory would be opened up for factory purposes. It is 
suggested that this project be taken up and agitated with energy, so 
that the very best results that Newtown Creek has to offer may be 
obtained. 

In connection with this we desire to call attention to that portion 
of the creek in the vicinity of Mussel Island and Furman Island. 
This is just beyond the Meeker avenue or old Penny bridge. The 
creek is forked here, the right branch passing up to Grand street and 
Metropolitan avenue. The other or left branch is-known as Maspetli 
Creek and is eventually lost in the new Calvary Cemetery grounds. 
At this point, by a readjustment of the bulkhead and pierhead lines 
and by the excavation of Mussel Island and part of Furman Island, 
both of which are low lands, there could be secured an excellent basin, 
which would not only afford ships an opportunity to turn, but is 
capable of furnishing piers of a very good length. At no great expense 
railway connection could be made to this new water front, while Mas- 
peth avenue would furnish the connection between this territory and 
all of Kings and Queens counties. A large territory now lying waste 
in this region would quickly respond to an improvement of this kind, 
and this property would in the form of taxes soon make returns for 
the investment. What it is possible to do here is shown in a rather 
crude sketch plan of the territory named. (See PI. XIII.) A de¬ 
tailed survey and study with an investigation into the cost would be 
necessary before a complete plan could be prepared. 

With the exception of the piece already noted on the northeast 
corner of the East River and Newtown Creek the intervening strip of 
water front from the mouth of Newtown Creek to Flushing Bay is 
scarcely susceptible of much improvement by the city at the present 
time. All of that portion which lies in what was formerly known as 
Ravenswood has been taken up and improved by private parties. 
From here until Hallets Cove is reached the channel is quite narrow, 
owing to the presence of Blackwells Island in this stretch of the river. 
This fact renders the construction of piers for terminal purposes out 
of the question. At Thirteenth street, opposite the south end of 
Blackwells Island, a public pier might be built of moderate length 
and berths furnished to scows and lighters with very little excavation, 
as there is a small cove at this point of which advantage may be taken. 
A pier in this vicinity seems desirable also, since the adjacent territory 
has at the present time a good population. Many factories are already 
built and quite a few more are in course of construction. The pros¬ 
pects of this neighborhood back of Vernon avenue are particularly 
good, and with the completion of the Belmont tunnel and the Black¬ 
wells Island bridge building operations for residence and manufac¬ 
turing purposes will be quite extensive, and every facility should be 



ANDREW. B GRAHAM 00, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHERS. WASHINGTON, D, 0. HOUSB DOC. NO. 1506 \ 60th Cong., 2d SCSS. 












































































































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KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 67 

offered by the city to encourage and foster this movement. A pier 
for public use where the vast quantities of building materials needed 
in the near future may be brought close to the customer would obviate 
the necessity of his carting these things all the way from Newtown 
Creek. 

That large improvements are expected in this quarter is further 
evidenced by the change of the shore front north of Nott avenue 
and all the way to Hallets Cove. A few years ago the shore of 
Ravenswood was an almost unbroken stretch of homes. Now it is 
well taken up by large stone, structural iron, terra cotta and other 
works, all apparently built in meparation for the predicted era of 
growth in this neighborhood. For the class of business stated, this 
part of the water front is particularly well suited and for that reason 
no change other than that recommended should be made. 

At Hallets Cove, which is opposite the north end of Blackwells 
Island, the pierhead and bulkhead lines have both been made to 
follow closely the bight in the shore. This, in our opinion, is unnec¬ 
essary, and by a change in the pierhead line, which would not to an 
appreciable extent affect the currents, piers of fair length could be 
obtained. At the present time there is a public pier 85 feet wide 
and possibly 600 feet long at the foot of Broadway, which is the 
main thoroughfare between Astoria and Bavenswood. The pier, 
however, is in poor condition, and has been condemned on that 
account. We have been informed that there is considerable demand 
for a pier in this locality, and a personal inspection seems to confirm 
this statement. It seems to be a favorable place for a pier, and the 
one referred to should be removed and another put in its place, which 
need not, however, be so wide. Two blocks north of Broadway, at 
the foot of Jamaica avenue, is an alternate site for a pier. Accurate 
surveys, soundings, etc., would perhaps determine wliich of the two 
places might prove the more desirable. 

The shore line of Astoria is closely occupied, and from Pot Cove to 
Lawrence Point the physical conditions would indicate that a park 
and not business would ultimately prove to be the destiny of this 
section. From here to Flushing Bay there are a few spots that 
might be made serviceable for public piers, but for the most part the 
territory is ill suited for water front development. A very large sec¬ 
tion of it, known as North Beach, is used as an amusement park, and 
no better use could be made of it. 

No improvements are recommended from Astoria to Flushing Bay 
for the further reason that while the possibilities of this part of the 
city are great it is at this time so sparsely settled and the present 
demand for water front development so small as to render an invest¬ 
ment of this character hazardous. 

This same statement might be made as to Flushing Bay, as the 
immediate needs of the neighborhood are comparatively small and 
demands for wharfage can be satisfied by the few private piers 
already in existence. It is, however, to be observed that as a pros¬ 
pective terminal on the north shore. Flushing Bay possesses many 
advantages and it is possible that the purchase of a strip of water 
front somewhere in this vicinity to be held for use in the future 
might prove advisable. 

The bay is about 1 mile wide and 2 miles long and is for the most 
part shallow, with an average depth at low water of 4 feet. The 


68 EEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

range of tide is a trifle over 7 feet. A good sized waterway known 
as Flushing Creek empties into the bay and, for the purpose of sub¬ 
serving the interests of a few manufacturers along the banlp of this 
creek, a dike was built about parallel with the College Point shore 
and a channel 6 feet deep dredged on the northeast side of it. It 
was hoped that the dike, acting as a training wall for the waters of 
the creek, would at all times preserve the depth. The dike, however, 
is in poor condition, and, while the army engineers have advised 
leaving it in position as it is not considered dangerous, they have at 
the same time expressed the opinion that a dredged channel would 
maintain itself equally as well without, as with, the dike. 

This fact is mentioned in view of the fact that the southeast shore 
seems to offer the greatest inducements for a further public improve¬ 
ment, and it would be necessary either to dredge out the entire bay 
or to maintain a channel of considerable width from the river to the 
interior of it. 

The section referred to lies along the north side of Jackson avenue 
between Flushing Creek and a point where the.. Flushing and Newtown 
turnpike enters Jackson avenue. The greater portion of this has 
already been taken up by a large construction company, which pro¬ 
poses to dredge out a very large portion of the bay and use the 
material so dredged for reclaiming the large tract of meadow lands ad¬ 
jacent. Precise plans for this improvement have not yet been pre¬ 
pared by the company, since it is waiting for the adoption of a street 
system by the city authorities. It is suggested that the city would 
be serving its own interests as well as the interests of those commu¬ 
nities close to the bay by some sort of cooperation by which, if a sec¬ 
tion of the water front were taken, its improvement could be eco¬ 
nomically undertaken at the same time as that by the company 
referred to. 

As there are many reasons for believing that Queens Borough has 
a long era of growth before it, small public landings niight be of ma¬ 
terial service at Whitestone, College Point, and Flushing. 

Bronx Borough .—Although this borough has a water front approxi¬ 
mating 100 miles in length, it is unfortunately situated as regards the 
construction of public piers and terminals. The physical difficulties 
are many, and in addition the railroads have not only secured the 
most advantageous sites for their yards, but have so located their 
lines as to seriously interfere with proper water-front improvement 
by the city. 

The only portion of the water front of the Bronx that offers oppor¬ 
tunities for the establishment of aii}^ extensive terminal improve¬ 
ments is situated between Cabot street and Hunts Point, and this 
territory is at the present time so undeveloped as to make a large 
expenditure for a purpose of this kind unwarrantable. 

It is a fact, however, that the borough of the Bronx is in need of 
better facilities than it now has to properly supply the wants of resi¬ 
dents, and it would appear from several very careful inspections 
that relief of some kind should be granted. This is required not only 
by the present large population, but also in order to prevent stag¬ 
nation m building operations, due to the great cost of procuring 
building supplies and other commodities. Notwithstanding the diffi¬ 
culties in the way, there should be public piers erected at such inter¬ 
vals as to render extremely long hauls unnecessary. 


HEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


09 


No improvements, of course, are needed at the present time along 
the Hudson shore of the Bronx, as the adjacent territory is but 
sparsely settled. The steepness of the shore along this portion of the 
front would present a serious obstacle in the way of improvements. 

Passing into the Harlem liiver by way of the ship canal no need 
of public piers is apparent until Fordham road is reached. Here 
there is a pier already in existence, and improvements along the 
bulkhead are also under way. We understand, moreover, that alter¬ 
ations are to be made in the pier itself, which, taken with the wharf¬ 
age provided along the bulkhead between the pier and the bridge 
at One hundred and eighty-fourth street, will satisfy all the require¬ 
ments of this vicinity for a very long time to come. 

That section of the borough between the Madison Avenue Bridge 
and h'ordham road is a rapidly growing one, yet throughout the en¬ 
tire stretch, a distance of 4 miles, there is not a single public pier at 
which supplies can be brought in by way of the water. The cause 
of this as far south as McCombs Dam Bridge is without doubt due 
to the presence here of the New York Central Railroad tracks, which 
necessitate the construction of viaducts at all streets to avoid grade 
crossings. The space between the tracks and the pierhead line is so 
short that the required runways would be exceedingly steep. It has 
been suggested at various times that piers be placed at One hundred 
and seventy-seventh and One hundred and sixty-seventh streets, 
with a recreation pier at Depot place. The latter is, in our opinion, 
unnecessary, since the object of recreation piers is to offer breathing 
places to the people of crowded districts. This necessity is absolutely 
wanting here, as the neighborhood has many unimproved spots, high 
and open lands abound, and the High Bridge, which immediately ad¬ 
joins Depot place, will at all times serve the purposes of a promenade. 
At One hundred and sixty-seventh street it is impossible to build a 
pier, owing to the short distance between the tracks and the pierhead 
line. At One hundred and seventy-seventh street, however, a pier 
can be built, although to do so and secure the full advantages it 
would be necessary for the city to condemn land on either side of the 
pier to furnish basins. We would hesitate to recommend this were 
a location at all practicable near One hundred and sixty-seventh street, 
since this location would better suit the needs of the neighborhood, 
but in the absence of such a convenient site we do recommend the 
One hundred and seventy-seventh street location. 

Provided a pier be built at One hundred and seventy-seventh 
street, no other would seem to be required until Cheever place is 
reached. Steps are already under way to build a pier at the foot of 
this street, and its construction should be hastened. In case, how¬ 
ever, it should be deemed inadvisable to provide wharfage at One 
hundred and seventy-seventh street, the construction of a pier at 
Cromwells Creek woidd do much to help this long stretch of shore 
front, and we therefore recommend this location as an alternate site 
for a pier. 

The remainder of the Harlem River and all of the Bronx Kills 
is unprovided with public piers. There seems to be no necessity for 
any, for, although this portion of the Bronx Borough is thickly 
populated, nearly all of the railway systems entering New York 
have freight terminals located here, to which business men and 
manufacturers have ready access. Through the medium of these 


70 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


terminals all the benefits usually derived from public piers are readily 
obtained. 

From One hundred and thirty-second street to Oak Point on the 
East River the channel is close inshore, rendering the construction of 
piers an expensive matter. This is especially true because of the 
fact that piers in this vicinity must necessarily be short, owing to 
the location of the pierhead and bulkhead lines. This would give 
very little wharfage room in return for the money expended. Piers 
have already been built at East One hundred and thirty-fourth street 
and East One hundred and thirty-sixth street, and these would have 
sufficed for this neighborhood had it been practicable to build them 
longer than 100 feet. 

Since it is evident that more wharf room is needed in this vicinity, 
and since this seems unattainable in the region south of the railroad 
yards of the New York and Harlem Railroad, it is recommended that 
a pier be built at the foot of One hundred and forty-ninth street, 
basins being at the same time provided on either side within the 
bulkhead line. A possible objection to this is the presence of the 
railroad yards on either side of One hundred and forty-ninth s-treet, 
but we are convinced that this, instead of being objectionable, has 
many advantages. We believe also that One hundred and forty- 
ninth street is a good location for a public pier because of its direc¬ 
tion, which enables it to reach a larger tributary population back of 
the railroad yards than would be the case if it were part of the 
rectangular street system. 

In addition to the above a pier at the foot of Tiffany street is 
needed, and this is already contemplated by the department of 
docks and ferries. 

North and east of this nothing in the way of piers is needed, 
owing to the undeveloped condition of the territory adjacent. At 
the present time the Hunts Point road is being graded. When 
this thoroughfare is completed, it can better be determined whether 
a pier in this location is a necessity. We are inclined to believe, 
however, that for some time to come the Tiffany street pier will 
amply provide for the wants of this entire locality. 

In the Bronx Borough, then, there seems to be required at the 
present time the immediate construction of the piers proposed for 
Tiffany street on the East River and for Cheever place and Ford- 
ham road on the Harlem River; also the construction of a pier 
and basins at West One hundred and seventy-seventh street, or at 
Cromwells Creek on the Harlem River, and one at the foot of East 
One hundred and forty-ninth street on the East River. 

Borough of Richmond .—In considering the question of the neces¬ 
sity of public piers or landing places in this borough, the thought 
occurs that the principal object to be sought is the general develop¬ 
ment of the island by offering aid in the way of water-front improve¬ 
ments. To base conclusions as to the necessity of piers upon the 
absolute return in wharfage for money expended would, in our 
opinion, be wholly wrong. The indirect returns to the city in the 
way of taxes from the construction of landings in all parts of the 
island would be incalculable, it is not only in the closely built up 
sections along the north and northeast shores that these landings 
are required, but also in the more remote regions where progress in 
all directions is halted owing to inadequate facilities both on land 
and water. 


EEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION. 71 

At the present time along the shore of this borough there is but 
one public pier. This is at the foot of Summerfield street at Mariners 
Harbor. Besides the Municipal Ferry at St. George there is one in 
course of construction at the foot of Canal street, Stapleton, wliile 
another is contemplated at Port Kichmond. These will not, how¬ 
ever, provide space for general wharfage, so that no relief can be 
expected from these improvements. 

To serve the interests of the city itself in landing materials for 
highway and sewer construction, piers at one or two points along the 
north - and northeast shores seem to be required. The immediate 
saving to the city from contracts alone would be large, and it is 
probable that the stimulus given to building operations would in 
itself be sufficient to make a fair return to the city as a whole. A 
pier near the Richmond ferry, say, at Nicholas avenue, and another 
near the foot of Jersey street, would perhaps satisfy all requirements 
for some time. At the latter place an old wharf is now in existence 
and is in fair condition. It provides considerable length of wharfage 
along the front, could probably be acquired at a comparatively low 
figure, and would serve the city until other plans were developed. 
The borough itself has rented at times private piers on either side of 
the old wharf for public uses. 

That section of the shore lying between Tompkinsville and Clifton 
is admirably adapted for large piers, and a portion of it would be of 
great value to the city as a site for a future terminal. Most of it, we 
understand, has been taken up by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
interests with the intention of establishing a large freight yard. It 
is suggested that the city might make a profitable investment by 
securing at least a portion of this front in the vicinity of the new 
ferry at Stapleton. 

For the aforesaid purpose of aiding the general development of 
the borough and more especially those outlying portions which seem 
to be more closely identified with Jersey than New York, we would 
suggest that public piers be placed at Tottenville and Chelsea. We 
also desire to call attention to the particular merits of Fresh Kills. 
This interior waterway, with its two branches and tributary creeks, 
will in the future be found to do more to open up the interior of 
Staten Island than any system of railway communication could 
possibly hope to do. Richmond Creek, the south branch of Fresh 
Kills, extends to Richmond, or more than half the way across the 
borough. For a considerable distance inland from the mouth of 
Fresh Kills the chart shows in places water 12 feet deep at mean low 
water. Adjacent to the kills are low marsh lands which, when 
reclaimed, would make admirable sites for manufacturers. A more 
detailed investigation into the waterway would be necessary^ to 
determine the practicability of opening it up to commerce, but it is 
merely our desire to call attention to its possibilities in the hope that 
it may lead to a more thorough examination at a more distant date. 

We regret to state that the commissioners did not come to a 
unanimous decision in regard to the matters upon which they were 
asked to report. The minority report of Mr. Ford follows. 

. Philip P. Farley, 

John J. McLaughlin, 

Commissioners, 


May 31, 1907. 


72 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION 


Table 1. —Showing growth of population of New York City since 1800. 


Year. 

Population. 

Increase. 

Annual 
rate of 
increase. 

1800.. 

79,216 
119, 734 
152,056 
242,278 

391.114 

696.115 

1,174, 779 

1,478,103 
1,911,098 
2,507,414 
3,437,202 
4,013,781 



1810. 

40,518 
32,322 
90,222 
148,836 
305,001 
478,664 
303,324 
433,595 
595,716 
929,788 
576,579 

5.11 
2.70 

5.93 
6.14 
7.80 

' 6.88 
2.58 

2.93 

3.12 
3. 71 
3.35 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

1850. 

18()0. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

1900. 

1905. 



Present rate of gain, 3.35 per cent. 


Table 2. —Population of Kings County, N. Y., by wards. 


Ward. 


First. 

Second.. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

Fifth. 

Sixth. 

Seventh.^. 

Eighth . 

Ninth. 

Tenth.;. 

Eleventh. 

Twelfth. 

Thirteenth. 

Fourteenth. 

Fifteenth. 

Sixteenth. 

Seventeenth. 

Eighteenth. 

Nineteenth. 

Twentieth. 

Twenty-first. 

Twenty-second. 

Twenty-third. 

Twenty-fourth (abuts on twenty-sixth ward) 

Twenty-fifth.. 

Twenty-sixth (borders on bay). 

T wen ty-se ven th. 

Twenty-eighth. 

Twenty-ninth (abuts on thirty-second ward). 

Thirtieth. 

Thirty-first (abuts on thirty-second ward)... 

Thirty-second (borders on bay). 

All Kings County. 


o Decrease. 


1900. 

1905. 

Increase. 

Annual 
rate of 
increase. 

20,327 

22,838 

% 

2,511 

2.46 

8,565 

9,026 

'461 

1.08 

17,949 

19,484 

1,535 

1.71 

12,568 

12,951 

383 

.61 

18,862 

19,807 

945 

1.00 

42,485 

48,547 

6,062 

2.85 

40,471 

45,358 

4,887 

2.41 

52,414 

63,912 

11,498 

4.39 

42,876 

47,555 

4,489 

2.09 

39,100 

42,845 

3,754 

1.92 

22.608 

25,119 

2,511 

2.22 

30.354 

31,429 

1,075 

.71 

24,029 

23,567 

0 462 

.38 

31,483 

33,298 

1,815 

1.15 

30,269 

32,982 

2,713 

1.79 

56,550 

61,136 

4,586 

1.62 

57,309 

60,268 

8,959 

3.13 

25,133 

27,931 

2,798 

2.22 

37,645 

41,704 

4,059 

2.16 

25,446 

27,303 

1,857 

1. 46 

58,957 

65,176 

6,219 

2.11 

66,575 

74,974 

8,399 

2.52 

61,813 

67,966 

6,153 

1.99 

31,767 

43,859 

12,092 

7. 61 

48,328 

55,211 

6,883 

2. 85 

66,086 

94,149 

28,0()3 

8.49 

43,961 

47.521 

3,560 

1.62 

77,912 

87,301 

9. .389 

2. 41 

27,188 

43,127 

15,939 

11.72 

24,700 

37,163 

12,463 

10.09 

14,609 

22,358 

7,749 

10. 61 

8,243 

13,232 

4,989 

12.10 

1,166,582 

1.35.5,106 

188,524 

3.23 


Table 3. —Population of Queens County, N. Y., by wards. 


Ward. 

.1900. 

1905. 

Increase. 

Annual 
rate of in¬ 
crease. 

Remarks. 

First. 

Second. 

Third. 

Fourth. 

Fifth. 

4 

Ail Queens County.. 

48,272 
40,903 
25,870 
30,761 
7,193 

55, 486 
60,104 
29,505 
42,817 
9,926 

7,214 
19,201 
3,635 
12,056 
2,733 

2.99 

9 39 
2. 81 
7. 84 
7.60 

Formerly Long Island City. 
Formerly town of Newtown. 
Formerly town of Flushing. 
Formerly town of Jamaica. 
Rockaway Beach, Far Rockaway 
etc. 

152,999 

197,838 

44,839 j 5.87 

































































































ANDREW. 6. graham CO., PHOTO-LIrHOGRAFHERS. WAShIHQTON. D. 0. 


House Ooc. No. /S06 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 

























































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ANDREW B. GRAHAM CO.. PHOTO-LITHOQRAPHERS. WASHINGTON D C. 

House Doc. No. 1606 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 
























































































REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION 


73 


Table 4. —Comparative statement, statistics of manufactures. 


City. 


United States. 

New York. 

Manhattan and Bronx 

Brooklyn. 

Queens.. 

Richmond. 

Chicago, Ill. 

St. Louis, Mo. 

New Orleans, La. 

Boston, Mass. 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Baltimore, Md. 

Norfolk, Va. 

San Francisco, Cal. 

Charleston, S. C. 

Savannah, Ga. 

Mobile, Ala. 

Galveston, Tex. 


Value of products. 


Per cent 
increase. 


1905. 


1900. 


$14,802,147,087 
1,526,523,006 
1,043,251,923 
373, 462,930 
92,941,158 
16,866,995 
955,036,277 
267,307,038 
84, 604,006 
184,351,163 
591,388,078 
151,546,580 
5,900,129 
137,788,233 
6,007,094 
6,340,004 
4,942,331 
2,996,654 


$11,411,121,122 
1,172,870,261 
810,807,975 
313,617,489 
35,427,561 
13,017,236 
797,879,141 
193,732,788 
57, 446,116 
162,764,523 
519,981,812 
135,107,626 
4,691,779 
107,023,567 
5,713,315 
3,750,000 
3,485,669 
3,675,323 


29.7 

30.2 

28.7 

19.1 
162.3 

29.6 

19.7 
38.0 

47.3 

13.3 

13.7 

12.2 

25.8 

28.7 
5.1 

69.1 

41.8 
a 45.7 


a Decrease. 


Table 5. —Showing tonnage of vessels entered and cleared at New York, 1885-1905. 



Year ending Jtme 30. 

Entered. 

Cleared. 

Total. 

Per cent 
increase 
or 

decrease. 

1885 . 

5,659,733 
5,558,938 
6,087,110 

5,440,724 

11,100,457 


1886 . 

5,388,335 

lO; 947', 273 

- 1.38 

1887 . 

5,779,691 
5,547,442 

11,866,801 

+ 8.40 

1888 . 

5,683,371 
5,596,821 
6,258,222 

11,230,813 

- 5.36 

1^9 . 

5, 454,415 

li; 051,236 

- 1.60 

1890 . 

6,025,518 

12', 283; 740 

+11.15 

189i . 

6,452,877 
7,304,015 

6,048,784 

12 ; 501 ; 661 

+ 1.77 

1892 . 

7,140,393 

14 ; 444 ; 408 

+15.54 

1893 .. 

7,015,030 
7,121, 527 

6,639, 433 
6,964,927 

13,654, 463 

- 5 .47 

1894 . 

14 ; 086; 454 

+ 3.16 

1895 . 

6,688,595 

6, 499,490 

13,188; 085 
13, 464,396 
14,211,315 
15,348,042 

- 6.38 


6; 911; 782 
7,267, 480 
7,771,412 
7,707, 477 
8,176,761 

6,552,614 

+ 2.10 


6', 943', 835 

+ 5.55 


7,576,630 

+ 8.00 


7] 496; 279 

15,203,756 

- .94 


7,843,529 

16,020,290 

+ 5.37 


S; 679; 273 
8,982,767 

8', 118, 427 
8, 415,291 

16,797,700 
17,398,058 

+ 4.85 


+ 3.57 


9,053,096 

8, 847,072 

17,900,168 
17,936,114 

+ 2.89 


9', 235,524 

8,700,590 

+ .20 


9, 630,853 

■ 9,311,527 

18,942,380 

+ 5.61 




Total increase in tonnage, 1885-1905, 7,841,923. 
Per cent increase in twenty years, 70.64. 
Yearly rate of increase, twenty years, 3.532. 


Table 6. —Showing tonnage movement at 


New York as compared with other seacoast ports. 


Total foreign tonnage. 


City. 


New York... 

Boston. 

Philadelphia 
Baltimore,.. 
New Orleans 
Galveston .. 


1885 


1890. 

1895. 

1900. 

1905. 

11,100, 

457 

12,283,740 

13,188,085 

16,020,290 

18,942,380 

2, 127 ; 

910 

2,613,335 

3,115, 478 

4,145,187 

4,687,39S 

1,959, 

443 

2,530,094 

2,711,433 

3,736,615 

3,651,624 

.1,366, 

442 

1,969,501 

1,708,257 

3, 452,654 

2,474,658 

i;33i; 

697 

2,035,072 

1,997,769 

3,395.442 

3,778,245 

185, 

099 

343,575 

767,629 

1,541,500 

1,965,784 





















































































74 KEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

Table 7. —Shovdng value of merchandise imported and exported by way of New York, 

1885-1906. 


Year. 


1885 

1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 

1890 

1891 

1892 

1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 


Merchandise. 


Per cent 
increase 


or 


Imported. 


Exported 


Total. 


decrease. 


$380,077,748 
419,338,932 
456,698,631 
470,426,774 
472,153,507 
516,426,693 
537,786,007 
536,538,112 
. 548,558,593 

415,795,991 
477,741,128 
499,932,792 
480,603,580 
402,281,050 
465,559,650 
537,237,282 
527,259, 906 
559,930,849 
618,705,662 
600,171,033 
679,629,256 
734,350,823 


$344,514,761 
314,329,411 
316,347,219 
310,627,496 
319,838,555 
349,051,791 
346,528,847 
413,952,783 
347,395,717 
369,146,365 
325,580,062 
354,274,941 
391,679,907 
455,515,794 
459,444,217 
518,834,471 
529,592,978 
490,361,695 
505,829,694 
506,808,013 
524,726,005 
613,904,639 


$724,592,509 
733,668,343 
773,045,850 
781,054,270 
791,992,062 
865,478,484 
884,314,854 
950,490,895 
895,954,310 
784,942,356 
803,321,190 
854,207,733 
872,283,487 
847,796,844 
925,003,867 
1,056,071,753 
1,056,852,884 
1,050,292,544 
1,124,535,356 
1,106,979,046 
1,204,355,261 
1,348,255,462 


+ 1.25 
+ 5.37 
+ 1.04 
+ 1.40 
+ 9.28 
+ 2.17 
+ 7.49 

- 5.74 
-12. 38 
4- 2. 34 
+ 6.33 
+ 2.12 
+ 2.81 
+ 9.11 
+ 14.17 
+ .07 

- .62 
+ 7.06 
- 1.56 
+ 8.79 
+ 11.95 


Increase in twenty-one years, $623,662,953. 

Per cent of increase in twenty-one years, 86.07. 

Rate of increase per year, 4.10. 

Table 8. —Showing value of merchandise imported and exported by way of New York and 

other seaports. 


City. 

Value of merchandise. 

1885. 

1890. 

1895. 

1900. 

1905. 

New York. 

Boston. 

Philadelphia. 

Baltimore. 

New Orleans. 

Galveston. 

$724,592,509 
115,446,032 
68,642,280 
56, 902,600 
87,836,126 
13,836,524 

$865,478,484 
134,078,610 
91,346,998 
87,123,896 
122,785,054 
24,862,623 

$803,321,190 
152,394,314 
83,845,769 
74,199,697 
82,274,869 
42,256,226 

$1,056,071,753 
184,391,484 
130,272,033 
131,575,657 
133,349,575 
87,111,069 

$1,204,355,261 
188,122,373 
123,458,971 
112,396,297 
181,870,245 
131,174,404 


Table 9. —Shouing vessels entered and cleared, port of New York, 1893-1905, inclusive. 


1893 

1894 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 


Entered. 

Cleared. 

Total. 

Per cent 
increase 
or 

decrease. 

5,027 

4,636 

9,663 


4,697 

4,500 

9,197 

-4.80 

4,365 

4,087 

8,452 

-8.10 

4,378 

4,065 

8,443 

- .11 

4,145 

4,063 

8,208 

-2.78 

4,335 

4,207 

8,542 

+4.10 

4,250 

4,054 

8,304 

-2.80 

4,233 

4,018 

8,251 

- .70 

4.189 

3,823 

8,012 

-2.90 

4,127 

3,666 

7,793 

-2. 70 

3,852 

3,680 

7,532 

-3.30 

3,769 

3,303 

7,072 

-6.10 

3,874 

3,439 

7,313 

+3.40 


Lost in number of vessels entering and clearing in the foreign trade at New York 
in the twelve years from 1893-1905 was 2,350, or 24.32 per cent, or at the rate of 2.03 
per cent per year. 

















































































































































































































House Doc. No. I606\ 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































JAM BAr /MA. COMS 


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made to accompany Ih e HcpOrt of the 

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REPOET OP JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 75 


Table 10. Showing port of New York^s percentage of the total foreign tonnage movement 

in the United States from 1885-1905. 


1885. 

1886. 

1887. 

1888. 

1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

1892. 

1893. 

1894. 

1895. 

1896. 

1897. 

1898 

1899 

1900 
1901. 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 


United 

States. 


24,783,767 
24,643,034 
27,042,250 
26,258, .356 
26,9&3,313 
30,794,653 
30,804,921 
36,438,645 
33,504,271 
34,331,090 
33,748,991 
35,271,758 
39,881,044 
43,592,049 
44,140,890 
47,151,255 
49,680,318 
48,603,539 
49,520,856 
48,302,903 
49,813,119 


New York. 


11,100,457 
10,947,273 
11,866,801 
11,230,813 
11,051,236 
12,283,740 
12,501,661 
14,444,408 
13,654,463 
14,086,454 
13,188,085 
13,464,396 
14,211,315 
15,348,042 
15,203,756 
16,020,290 
16,797,700 
17,398,058 
17,900,168 
17,936,114 
18,942,380 


New 
York’s 
per cent. 


44.79 
44.42 

43.87 
42.77 
40.95 

39.87 
'40.58 
39.65 
40. 75 
41.03 
39.08 
38.17 
35.63 
35.21 

34. 44 
33. 98 
33. 81 

35. 79 
35.15 
37.13 
38.03 


MINOHITY REPORT. 

Jamaica Bay Improvement Commission, 

Board of Estimate and Apportionment, 

New York City, N. Y. 

Gentlemen: There being such a^wide difference of opinion upon 
essential features connected with the improvement of Jamaica Bay 
between my associates of the ‘‘Jamaica Bay Improvement Commis¬ 
sionand myself, and there seeming to be no hope of reconciling 
these differences, I have the honor to submit the following minority 
report: 

The city of New York as now constituted had in 1830 double the 
population it had in 1800, and in 1840 it was twice as large as in 1810, 
and, again, in 1850 it was twice as large as in 1820. 

Following through each successive period of ten years we find that, 
without a single exception, during the nineteenth century every 
thirty years brought a double population. 

Unless precedent fails us, we must provide for 4,000,000 more 
people in 1935. (See Appendix No. 1, Ford Keport.) 

Nor has the increase in population been unattended by increase in 
material wealth. 

The United States census of 1880 shows the total value of manu¬ 
factured products in New York and Brooklyn as $650,149,579, and 
in 1905 in the consolidated city as $1,526,523,006, showing a net 
gain in twenty-five years® of more than 100 per cent. 

During the thirty years between 1875 and 1905 the value of 
imports and exports entered and cleared at the port of New York 
practically doubled, being $619,570,118 in 1875 and $1,204,355,261 
in 1905 (see Appendix No. 2, Ford Report), while the tonnage in 
foreign trade alone increased at a still greater rate, being 8,732,507 


o Prior to 1880 the census reports did not give tables for individual cities. 



































76 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

tons in 1875 and 18,942,380 in 1905 (see Appendix No. 3, Ford 
Report), making this port the leading one of the continent. 

The supremacy of New York as a commercial center has been due 
primarily to the existence and development of her waterways and 
consequently of her water tonnage. 

In view of the great importance of the railroads—indeed, of their 
absolute necessity at this date—this statement may appear at first 
somewhat dogmatic. But while every large city in the United States 
has good railroad connections it is no mere* coincidence that every one 
having a population exceeding 200,000 (which includes the 20 largest) 
has in addition to its railroad facilities extensive waterways. (See 
Appendix No. 4, Ford Report.) 

Appendices Nos. 2 and 3, Ford Report, show that while New York 
still maintains its supremacy, its percentage gain has not been as 
great as that of our other important ports. Part of this percentage 
loss is undoubtedly due to the lack of relative efficiency of the New 
York canals in recent years, the effect of which has permitted pro¬ 
ductions that would otherwise have come here to go elsewhere. 

The statistics of imports and exports and foreign-trade tonnage all 
refer to the port of New York. The statistics as to population and 
manufactures refer to the municipality. 

But if New York is to progress commercially in keeping with the 
increasing population, and even if its tonnage increases only at the 
rate it has during the past decade, when the New York canals have 
had comparatively little influence, we must still provide for some 
17,262,885 tons additional in 1935. 

But at this time the new “1,000-ton barge” Erie Canal (really 
“1,500-ton”) should have been in active operation for twenty years. 
Its advocates claim that through its use freight may be handled at a 
cost approximating one-half mill per ton mile, and that it will bring 
an annual tonnage to this port of at least 10,000,000 (actual capacity 
20,000,000 per annum) instead of less than 4,000,000 as at present. 

Considering the effect such active competition always has upon rail¬ 
road freight, it may safely be assumed that the canal will materially 
lessen all-rail charges to and from the Northwest and bring to New 
York City also rail traffic that we could not otherwise get. 

While it is difficult to say with any degree of positiveness what 
direct and indirect effect the enlarged canal would have in tons, the 
enormous traffic on the Great Lakes and its wonderful percentage 
growth should not be disregarded. Appendix No. 5B, Ford Report, 
shows as to Lake Superior alone that there passed through the canals 
at Sault Ste. Marie in 1883 2,000,000 tons and in 1903 34,000,000 tons, 
an increase of over 1,500 per cent in twenty years, and that 85 per cent 
of this was to or from Lake Erie ports. Let us assume that it would 
bring to New York through itself and its influence at least 5,000,000 
tons of new business. In addition to our ordinary increase this would 
make a total new tonnage that must be provided for by 1935 of some¬ 
thing over 22,000,000, or about five times the present total foreign ton¬ 
nage of Boston, six times that of Philadelphia or New Orleans, and 
nine times that of Baltimore. 

The above figures do not include any of our ever-increasing coast¬ 
wise trade. The Bureau of Labor and Commerce has not found it 
practicable to furnish trustworthy data upon this subject, though the 
tonnage coming to New York annually is many millions. 







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'AMAtCA BAY 


HEAVY LINES SHOW UNDEVELOPED SHORE FRONT CAPABLE OF 
SUPPLYING DEEP DRAUSHT WHARFAGE, BUT REQUIFflNS (^IN 
IIOSTCAGeS^ EXTENSIVE DREDGING. 

ANDRCW, B, GRAHAM CO.. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHERS. WASHiNOTON, D. C, 

House Doc. No. /606 ; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 






KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 77 


The Maritime Association of the Port of New York in its annual 
report for 1906 gives the following: 



Steam. 

Sail. 

Tons. 

Coastwise entrances. 

2,171 

2,856 

781 

5,220,-564 
5,808,009 

Coastwise clearances. 

443 


Total. 



11,028,573 





Statistics as to the foreign trade, coming through the custom-house 
as they do, are comprehensive and reliable. 

Those given here apply to the port of New York, whether the ship¬ 
ping was berthed within the limits of this State or of New Jersey. 

It may be noted in passing that nearly all the water front of New 
Jersey immediately adjacent to the Upper Bay and the Hudson River 
is already developed and that the Palisades on the north and the Jer¬ 
sey flats on the south shut off our neighboj: from any further expansion 
along these lines. 

It would seem that the providing for the larger part of this increase 
in shipping will fall to the lot of the city of New York, and that with 
it will come to her citizens the wealth and prosperity attendant upon 
increased commerce—unless New Jersey, through the development 
of her meadow lands upon the mainland, should forestall her and 
secure these advantages for her own citizens. 

Considering the borough of Manhattan., to a large degree devel¬ 
oped, New York’s available undeveloped water front is mainly as 
follows: Throggs Neck to New York, New Haven and Hartford 
terminal ^ards at Casanova; Little Neck Bay; Willetts Point to 
Astoria, including Flushing Bay; Ravenswood; parts of Staten 
Island, between Shooters Island and Fort Wadsworth; Arthur Kill; 
Gravesend Bay and Jamaica Bay, the latter consisting of an inland 
body of water separated from the deep water of the ocean by a long, 
low sand spit several miles long and a few hundred yards wide. Its 
interior waters are extensive, but generally shoal, interspersed with 
many irregular low islands and channels. Its natural entrance is 
over a shifting sand bar and has a varying depth of from 9 to 11 
feet. (These sections are treated in detail in Appendix 6, F. R.) 

A glance at the accompanying sketch (PI. I) will show the relation 
between developed New York in 1905, with a foreign trade of 
18,942,380 tons, and her present undeveloped water front, available 
for furnishing room for 22,000,000 more tons in 1935, exclusive of 
the gain in coastwise tonnage. . . 

It is evident that if New York is to provide simply for what statistics 
indicate is coming to her, and conceding that every large rival port 
on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts is to be permitted to outstrip her in 
percentage gain of tonnage, she must still plan for extensive expan¬ 
sion and improvement of her shore front. 

The writer made an inspection of the leading ports of northern 
continental Europe during the past summer, particularly those of 
the lowland districts, Germany, Holland, and Belgium, haying con¬ 
ditions similar to the lowlands of Jamaica Bay. The things that 

most impressed him were: ^ ^ -i-x- 

First. The growth of certain cities where the harbor facilities were 

kept constantly in advance of the shipping. 

















78 REPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

Second. The broadness of designs, the quality, substantialness and 
enduring qualifications of the improvements installed, together with 
the completeness of the appliances for handling materials. 

Third. The joint participation by the General Government and the 
municipal government in the installation and maintenance of the 
harbors and waterways. 

The three harbors that attracted the writer’s attention most from 
engineering and commercial standpoints were: 

First. The harbor of Hamburg, now one of the greatest in the 
world, which entered upon a campaign of active improvement in the 
early eighties, and during the succeeding twenty-five years increased 
her tonnage several hundred per cent. 

Second. Antwerp, with her new quay walls and handling facilities, 
which gained for her 200 per cent in twenty years. 

Third. Rotterdam, with her bold engineering ventures, gaining 113 
per cent in the ten years between 1893 and 1904 (Appendix 7, F. R.). 

May it be noted that all these harbors are a number of miles from 
the sea, that they are in the so-called ‘‘old countries,” and that 
they had conditions to overcome more difficult than those to be found 
in Jamaica Bay. 

Probably the most striking development of a harbor in the New 
World is that of Duluth-Superior, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, a port 
upon the Great Lakes. 

Under an act of Congress in 1881, provisions were made for a 
continuous depth of 16 feet throughout the harbor, and under suc¬ 
ceeding acts the general depth has been brought up to 22 feet, with 
24 feet in the main entry channel, which is protected by concrete 
piers. The improvement has been a success, both physically and 
commercially. 

The in and out going tonnage in 1890 was nearly 3,000,000, and 
in 1903 it was nearly 18,000,000, the latter being valued at over 
$177,000,000. 

The vessel freight handled in this harbor in eight months is so enormous that it 
is difficult for the mind to grasp its volume. Some appreciation of its magnitude 
may be obtained if we suppose it all to be loaded on ordinary freight cars, 40,000 
pounds to the car, and the cars themselves to be placed on the track as closely as 
possible to one another. So arranged, the 900,000 cars required would occupy every 
foot of space on a double-track railroad extending from New York City to San Francisco. 

In some respects the harbor originally resembled Jamaica Bay 
more, perhaps, than any other in the United States. 

It was (and is) separated from the deep water of Lake Superior 
outside by a low sand spit, several miles long and a few hundred yards 
wide. Its interior waters were extensive but shoal, except where a 
few irregular channels existed. 

Its natural entrance was over a shifting sand bar, and had a vary¬ 
ing depth of from 9 to 11 feet. (See Appendix 5, F. R. Extracts 
from papers of Major Gaillard, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, from 
which the statistics as to this harbor are taken.) 

The difficulties to be overcome in Jamaica Bay should be no 
greater than those overcome in Duluth-Superior. 


o Eight months only on account of severe cold and ice. 




REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 79 


The letters of his honor the mayor of April 26, 1906, notifying the 
commissioners of their appointment, directed them to report to your 
honorable board: 

First, upon the general improvement and development of Jamaica Bay in the bor¬ 
oughs of Brooklyn and Queens, along the lines indicated in a communication from the 
comptroller to the commissioners of the sinking fund, together with plans for the phys¬ 
ical improvement and an estimate of the cost of the same, etc. 

The scope of the comptroller’s communication to the sinking-fund 
commissioners can be expressed no better than in Mr. Grout’s own 
words: 

The matter of which I speak is the improvement and future development of Jamaica 
Bay and its environs. There is a vast territory of unimproved land, of land under 
water, and of bordering marsh lands, lying partly within the borough of Brooklyn and 

E artly within the borough of Queens, connected with the Atlantic Ocean at present 
y a shallow and tortuous channel. * * * 

My proposition is that the city should at once take up, formulate and execute a com¬ 
prehensive scheme for the full development of this property (1) by perfecting its title 
to all of the property to which it has a claim; (2) by condemning at once the unim¬ 
proved shore lands, and (3) by reclaiming the salt'fharshes, filling in the shallow parts 
and hummocks of the bay, bulkheading the islands and shores throughout their entire 
extent, and opening up such channels between the filled-in lands as may best develop 
the locality for its future needs and opportunities. It is possible I believe thus to 
furnish here a centering point for great manufacturing interests, which will subse¬ 
quently produce a large and ever-increasing revenue to the city of New York. 

The situation has been so thoroughly and ably presented to you 
already by Mr. Grout that I will pass as rapidly as possible to the 
essentials of the improvement. 

The elhpse which comprises this aggregation of marsh upland, 
shoal water and small low islands has a major axis of ten miles and 
a minor of five. It comprises more than one-fourth of the combined 
areas of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It is capable of con¬ 
tributing some 16,000 acres of good, healthful, useful land through 
the reclamation of a quantity of practically useless salt marsh and 
land under water, besides furnishing for undeveloped portions of the 
city the tiling above all others that has made New York great—ship¬ 
ping facilities—water tonnage. 

In the writer’s opinion the question as to the treatment of the bay 
in its development is primarily and essentially utilitarian. But, so 
far as practicable, the sesthetic possibilities should not be overlooked. 

The following are desirable elements in a harbor: Security and pro¬ 
tection, sufficient depth of water, good entrance, proximity of the 
ocean, moderate range of tide, moderate speed of current, freedom 
from serious ice, easy channels and good day and night ranges for 
navigation, good wharfage facilities, good freight handling facilities, 
good railway connections, good interior waterway connections, cheap 
wharfage rates and mooring places, good.hauling out and repair facili¬ 
ties, good coaling facilities and reasonable price of coal, limited 
fouling of bottom of ships, and healthfulness. 

Jamaica Bay can have them all, and some of them to a large degree. 
The very fact that the bay has heretofore been practically helpless 
and hopeless makes a development at this time along desirable lines 
possible; where under less hopeless conditions the resultant patch- 
work of improvements would now be more of a stumbling block than 

an aid. 


80 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

The development maj be considered best under two heads: 

(а) Providing and maintaining an adequate entrance into the bay. 
This is of primary importance, but is discussed last. 

(б) Treatment of the interior. 

B.—Treatment of the Interior. 

PROVIDING INTERIOR CHANNELS. 

Note. —Reference is invited to frontispiece, Plate XVIII, and 
Plate No. 2, Ford Report. 

Defth .—There are two limits to the extreme useful depths of the 
inside channels, viz, 25 feet and 40 feet, depending upon whether 
the entrance is cut through the bar to the westward, m the directions 
considered by the army engineers last winter, or through the bar to 
the southward. 

The writer believes that no interior plan should be considered 
which is not flexible enough to permit an ultimate depth of 40 feet 
through a considerable frontage, even though a much less depth be 
created now for immediate needs only. 

He would like to recall the tendencies of the age to run into large 
units and to enlarge these units as the time goes on. 

Transportation has developed along these lines no less than have 
other enterprises. The weight of the steel rail per yard, of the 
locomotive it carries and of the bridge that carries the locomotive, 
to say notliing of the capacity of freight cars, have all increased rapidly 
in late years, conforming to the increase of freight ton-mileage wliicli 
made a gain of 118 per cent during the ten years between 1895 and 
1905. 

The increase in size of different kinds of shipping from the class 
represented by canal boats up to that of the ocean liners has also 
been marked. We have no more reason to believe now that the 
limits have been reached than we had fifteen or twenty years ago. 
(Appendix No. 5C, Ford Report.) 

Larger vessels mean larger capacity per unit of length, and less 
freight cost per ton-mile. (See Appendix No. 8, Ford Report, show¬ 
ing rate of increase in tonnage per vessel, and also table showing 
general increase in tonnage.) 

The Cambria of the Cunard line, model of 1905, has a tonnage of 
31.1 per foot of length, while the Britannia of the same line, model 
of 1840, had a tonnage of 5.4 per foot of length. A pier with 100 
feet of Cambria would receive as much freight as one with 575 of 
Britannia. But it takes deeper water for the Cambria. 

The writer has provided for a depth of 25 feet at mean low water 
in the principal channels, with room for a development up to 40 feet 
later on when conditions warrant it. 

Reference to extracts from reports of the United States Geological 
Survey (Veatch's Report on Underground Water Resources of Long 
Island, Appendix No. 9, Ford Report) will show that no rock is to be 
encountered here, as in some other parts of New York harbor, but 
that the materials below the bottom of the marshes will be principally 
sand and gravel, or these mixed with some clay. 

In a marine engineering problem, as in most others, simplicity in 
design is to be sought. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 81 

There are some conditions here—such as the maze of existing 
interweaving rivulets of small depth—which tend to lure one from 
simplicity of design in order to make use of what exists for imme¬ 
diate economy’s sake only. 

The writer believes that the laying down of a complicated plan on 
this account should be avoided, and that the departure from sim¬ 
plicity should not be permitted unless the cost entailed is unwar¬ 
ranted. An economy at the beginning may soon become an extrava¬ 
gance. 

Complicated design of waterways means complicated street 
systems and complicated transportation. 

It means complicated problems in the design and maintenance of 
sewerage installation, and probably increased cost in the construc¬ 
tion and maintenance of sewage purification works, the necessity 
for which in this vicinity is imperative through already existing law. 

It means increased cost and maintenance of bridges and the 
retardation of traffic both on land and water. 

The writer recommends a few wide, cTeep, straight channels, sup¬ 
plemented by some short interior canals. 

Subject throughout to the approval of the War Department, the 
writer recommends consolidating all the small islands, which are 
now separated by shoal water, and creeks most of which are shallow, 
into three large ones, two in the middle of the bay (called temporarily, 
for convenience of reference. North and South islands, respectively) 
and one at the westerly extremity (called temporarily West Island). 

North and South islands .—These are'separated by a channel 
(Middle Channel) 1,500 feet wide between bulkhead lines (which 
is about the distance between piers of the Brooklyn Bridge), having 
a depth of 25 feet at mean low water, and permitting the docking 
of large ocean-going steamers. 

Every part of these islands would be tributary to a concourse 
500 feet wide connecting with the shores. 

Surrounding these two islands is a loop of channels designed for 
a depth of 25 feet at mean low water, or better. 

In detail, this loop would start from Beach Channel at Barren 
Island and run northwesterly and northeasterly past Canarsie to 
Fresh Creek Canal; thence (as North Channel) easterly through and 
to the end of the present Grassy Bay, with a minimum width of 
4,000 feet between bulkheads (about the clear space between the 
ends of the piers of Manhattan on the one side and of Jersey City on 
the other). 

The pierhead lines would be parallel to those of the bulkheads 
and 1,000 feet outside of them, leaving a clear channel of 2,000 feet 
(equal to half of that between Manhattan and Jersey City). 

The proposed depth is 25 feet at mean low water, subject to deep¬ 
ening to 40 feet under another project if desired. 

From the easterly end of North Channel the loop continues south¬ 
easterly (as East Channel), with a width of 3,000 feet between bulk¬ 
heads, and with pier lines about 707 feet out; and thence southerly 
(still East Channel) 2,000 feet wide, until joining Hassock Channel, 
which runs sou bhwesterly to the railroad trestle. 

Hassock Channel has a width of 1,500 feet, and pier lines 400 feet 
out from bulkheads, as in the case of Middle Channel. 

H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—09-6 


82 REPOET OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

All the above easterly channels are laid out for 25 feet at mean 
low water, and could be made deeper, though there would probably 
be no demand for increased depth here for very many years. 

West of the railroad .trestle the channel (Beach Channel) would 
broaden out and would have a depth of 25 feet, subject to increase 
when necessary. 

West Island would include Barren Island and many small islands 
between it and the mainland. It is bounded along its interior by 
channels which merge into a basin to the northward. Tliis pro¬ 
vides 4 miles of interior waterway, all of which would be flushed 
twice daily, as the difference in times of high water, as well as low, 
at the northeasterly and the southwesterly end is about one hour. 
These channels would be 500 feet wide between bulkheads, and by 
having pier lines 150 feet out from each side 45 degrees skew piers 
212 feet long could be put in later, should traffic demand it. The 
depth here is 16 feet. 

West Island and vicinity seems to possess a strategic position of 
some importance. It is the nearest available section to the sea. It 
can be readily improved, and it would become almost immediately 
an interior supply station for a large district with rapidly developing 
interests. It could furnish factory sites and business locations which 
depend upon water transportation, and it would be capable of receiv¬ 
ing on the one side the largest ocean steamers from foreign countries, 
and a vast quantity of the coastwise and barge trade (including 
barge trade of the heaviest draft from the Great Lakes) on the other. 

The island would include for 2| miles of its length the principal 
artery of Brooklyn, the one avenue extending, then, from Manhattan 
to the sea. 

On account of the importance this section is destined to play, and 
with a view to minimizing truckage costs, a commodious basin has been 
located at the most extreme inland point practicable, some 2 miles 
inshore from the entrance. This basin will entail cutting through 
a small amount of upland and the condemnation of a few buildings, 
but the writer not only believes that the situation warrants it, but 
that it should be done for economic reasons. The basin thus created 
will be 6,650 feet long and 1,200 feet wide, with a channel way in the 
clear of 500 feet, except at the crossing of Flatbush and Ralph 
avenues, where it will be necessarily restricted. 

It is proposed that railway connection with the mainland be had 
by way of a bridge crossing to Bergen Beach and from there to the 
distributing roads. 

Three canals, Paedegat, Fresh, and Spring Creek, are projected for 
the borough of Brooklyn, running inshore from West and North 
channels. They are made to conform as nearly as practicable to 
existing legal canal projections. While there are serious reasons for 
and against canals, the ones in favor seem to have preponderance in 
this vicinity. 

One of the most serious objections to a canal is the tendency to 
impurity of its water, especially if the length be so great that the 
water is rarely freshened. This is enhanced if factory wastes or 
household sewage is permitted to enter it. 

In the present case no tributary factories being in existence, regu¬ 
lation may be made in advance, and the bureau of sewers, under 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 83 

existing law, will cause all household sewage running into the bay to 
be purified. In all probability the only thing that will find its wa;v 
into the canals in any quantity will be storm water, and in one or 
two cases canals would almost be necessary to take care of the storm 
water of this section on account of the topography. 

They will be wide and not very long. 

They will have large carrying capacity and will lessen the cost of 
many commodities within their zones of usefulness. 

One canal, Cornells, in the vicinity of Cornells Creek, is provided 
for in Queens. Cornells Creek has been used for some time for water 
traffic, and the canal would supplant the creek. 

All these canals would have a depth of 12 feet at low water. 

Between this and Spring Creek Canal to the westward, the existence 
of a railroad takes away part of the argument in favor of canals there. 

In the foregoing plan it is proposed to close permanently a number 
of creeks between the various islands in the bay, in order "that water¬ 
ways of greater scope and depth may be had, together with reclaimed 
land advantageously located. 

This will mean a contraction of the area within the bay over which 
the tide rises and falls twice daily about 4.5 feet and a contraction of 
the corresponding volume, which is technically termed the tidal 
prism.^’ 

The relation between the original and final tidal prisms in some of 
the harbors along the coast has long been considered of importance, 
bearing as it does upon the volumes of watqr that pass through chan¬ 
nels and over bars, and in the case of the existing harbor of New 
York any serious encroachment upon the prescribed limits has been 
conceded only after the most careful consideration. 

The writer fii'st became interested in the subject professionally in 
1883, while with a United States Coast Surve}^ party engaged in tidal 
observations off Sandy Hook and the Rockaways. During his sub¬ 
sequent experience along the coast the topic has been the occasion 
of much discussion as applied to various harbors. The subject is by 
no means a new one to him. In making the accompanying plans it 
has not been overlooked, and he believes that ample allowance has 
been made for final tidal prism. 

To begin with, unlike the discharge from the Narrows, the dis¬ 
charge of water from Jamaica Bay will be within comparatively nar¬ 
row limits, and the conditions are totally different from those about 
the present port of New York. The volume of water entering and 
leaving Jamaica Bay in the past has never of itself maintained a 
desirable depth of water over the bar, and of itself it probably never 
will. 

The bay contains no river contributing to the flow of water, or 
maldng a deposit of silt. Under the proposed plan it becomes a 
large basin. Its sides will be bulkheaded and the material on its 
banks held in place. 

The dredge is playing a more important part to-day than it did 
in former times. It will undoubtedly be used in the rnaintenance of 
deep water in Rockaway Entrance, as it will be used in the mainte¬ 
nance of deep water in the Ambrose Channel. 


84 KEPOltT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMEisT COMMISSION. 


RECLAMATION OF LAND. 

There are some 13,000 acres of marsh land in and surrounding 
Jamaica Bay. While it may be unfortunate in one respect that these 
lands are so low, it is very fortunate in another that they are not 
high. Did they not provide a favorable place for depositing dredged 
material the cost of improving the bay and of creating such chan¬ 
nels as are recommended would be very great, if not indeed pro- , 
hibitory, at this time. 

The twofold demand for near-by areas which shall provide busi¬ 
ness and home sites for the rapidly increasing population, on the 
one hand, and for additional harborage, on the other, makes the crea¬ 
tion of both together far more simple and less costly than of either 
separately. 

The cost of either separately would probably be two and one-half 
times the cost of both together. 

The cost of both separately would undoubtedly be four times the 
cost of both together. The amount of dredging just balances the 
required amount of filling. 

The propositions go hand in hand. They are inseparable from 
an economic point of view. 

In conformity with the letter of instructions from his honor the 
mayor, the writer has considered the reclamation of all the islands 
of the bay, not included in the path of the proposed channels, and 
of nearly all the marshes along the upland. 

The department of law is of the opinion that the city already 
owns all the lands under water in the bay, and beyond doubt the 
major part of the islands, including all east of a northerly and south¬ 
erly fine through a point at about the intersection of the northerly 
lines of the West and North channels. 

The title as to the other islands has not as yet been made so clear, 
and the subject is still undergoing investigation Ijy the corporation 
counsel. (See letter from corporation counsel, printed with majority 
report.) 

It is therefore impossible to tell with exactness at present what 
areas of those considered the city would have to acquire. 

Assuming a not particularly favorable condition, one under which 
must be included all of the upland to be taken, all of the lowlands 
west of West Channel and some of those east, the total area to be 
acquired would be 6,800 acres. The total area of reclaimed land 
would be 15,920 acres. 


RAILROAD CONNECTIONS. 

In the most modern practice, both here and abroad, the tendency 
is to bring rail transportation in closer contact with that of the water, 
and, while it is not to be expected that general cargoes destined for 
interior points can be whipped directly from a ship’s hold into a freight 
car, it is entirely practicable to collect such cargoes upon a wharf 
alongside of which a steamer lies, and load it from each of these col¬ 
lection points into cars, which shall take it to its final destination. 
It is also entirely practicable to collect freight destined for near-by 
warehouses or factories in a similar way, and the extension of the 


KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 85 

trackage from pier to factory places the factory also in direct touch 
with the interior of the country. 

]\fanhattan has been at a distinct disadvantage in that a large part 
of the freight discharged from vessels at her piers is subjected to such 
burdensome intertransportation charges, and the vast amount of 
trucking that has been necessary has been most unfortunate. 

In the proposed plan it is intended that the merchandise may be 
unloaded upon almost any one of the piers to be constructed and from 
there placed directly into a car which shall take it to its destination 
in any part of the United States. This will necessitate, of course, 
provision for extensive trackage. But in the case of a harbor which 
is to be created as a whole this may be readily provided for in the 
beginning. Connections could be had shortly with the mainland 
through the New York connecting railroad, and the writer is informed 
that were such connections made and freight offered the current New 
York rate on through business could be established for Jamaica Bay, 
practically placing it on a par at once with all the best-developed por¬ 
tions of the greater city. In this connection, while no specific places 
have been indicated upon the accompanying map for them, there 
should be spaces reserved at intervals for the exclusive use of trackage 
and storage of cars. 

Under these conditions and with these facilities there can be no 
doubt but that there will be a very large demand for dockage. And if 
W'ith the establishment of this new harbor the city should deem it wise 
to establish new and cheaper rates of wharfage, the demand would in 
all probability be still greater. 

Some of the cities of the older countries have adopted a system by 
which they charge only the current interest on the value of the plant 
used, plus a sinking fund percentage and a small amount for mainte¬ 
nance and repairs, as an invitation to shipping to come to their docks 
instead of going elsewhere. 

As but a small portion of the total freight will be distributed by 
tmck under the proposed conditions (conditions created expressly for 
the purpose of reducing truckage to a minimum) the zones of the 
improved districts nearest the bulkhead should be considered primarily 
as trackage zones, and only supplementary as highway districts. 
Should the long sides of the blocks run parallel to the bulkhead the 
difficulties of transportation of material by trackage to warehouse or 
factory inshore of the first block would be greater than if the blocks 
are run the other way, particularly so if in the latter case provision is 
made by which trackage may go through the middle of each block as 
far inland as needed, furnishing the rear of both rows of buildings on 
each block with cars their entire length. For this reason the short- 
block system along the water front is recommended, as well as a fairly 
wide marginal street. Even if this marginal street should eventually 
prove to be wider than absolutely necessary it would be better to allow 
for it now wliile land is very cheap than to discover the reverse later, 
and regret it, as did Manhattan. 

As stated elsewhere, it is probable that the outer edge of this mar¬ 
ginal street would be continued as a platform over the water when the 
size and draft of vessels became so great that their ends could not 
approach the bulkhead within the space between the latter and the 
outer edge of the slope to deep water. It is also probable, judging 


86 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 

from the trend of the practice, that the outer portion of this mar^nal 
street would eventually be transformed into covered semitemporary 
warehouses. In any event the writer strongly urges providing gener¬ 
ous room along the water front from the very beginning. 

The new trackage about the Grand Central Depot, constructed at 
enormous cost and scarcely yet completed, already looks very natural 
and appropriate. The subway has not been in long. 

GRADES. 

The long and favorable experience of the department of docks and 
ferries through using an elevation of 5 feet above mean high water at 
the bulkhead line is good reason for the adoption of the same elevation 
here, and it is accordingly recommended. 

The writer has calculated for a fill confornfing to this at the water’s 
edge and rising inward at the rate of 1 foot in 1,000, or about Ij inches 
in 100 feet on the average. This light grade will reduce to a mini¬ 
mum the amount of fill required, and yet provide sufficient fall for the 
department of sewers. 

This would, of course, be a very flat grade for streets systems, but 
as it is only a general grade the objection to its flatness is readily over¬ 
come in the different Ifighways by the creation of local crowns be¬ 
tween some of the blocks. 

Existing grades in Brookl}^ made too low in the beginning (gen¬ 
erally 3.0 feet at the bulkhead) should be changed to conform when 
practicable. 

PIERS. 

The writer believes that skew piers are particularly applicable to 
tills situation, both on account of the obtainable total length in con¬ 
sequence, as well as on account of their convenience in connection 
with the trackage systems. Straight piers of the same length would 
necessitate about 1,000 feet additional width in the main channels. 

In the main channels, having a 1,000-foot space between bulkhead 
and pierhead lines, the total length of a 45°-skew pier may be 1,414 feet. 
One of these will accommodate four very large steamers at the same 
time. 

Provision is made for the possible need of a few even longer piers 
at the southwesterly part of South Island. 

In Middle and Hassock channels, with 400 feet between bulkhead 
and pierhead lines, the same kind of piers may have a length of 565 
feet, or sufficiently long for the larger part of the vessels that come 
to New York or are likely to come. 

MOORINGS. 

In every harbor it is advisable to have some areas in which vessels 
can lie at anchor or moored ‘fin the stream.” A large amount of 
barge trade can load and unload alongside such vessels, and the charge 
for wharfage is eliminated. 

There has been considerable space provided for moorings in the 
part of the harbor between the southwesterly part of South Island 
and Rockaway Beach. Should this space become much patronized, 
the writer suggests that permanent moorings with numbered moor¬ 
ing buoys be supplied and maintained by the city. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 87 

REPAIR BASINS. 

Every harbor should, so far as possible, be self-sustaining. Where 
a large aggregation of shipping is provided for there should be also 
adequate provision for dry-docking, overhauling, and repairing of 
vessels. No large port can afford to be without these adjuncts, and 
space has been provided accordingly for two repair basins on the south 
side of South Island. 


DREDGING AND FILLING. 

« _ 

The most up-to-date and economical way of filling in lowland is by 
forcing dredgings and water through large pipes, by pumps, to places 
of deposit and allowing the water to run off. 

The dredging and forcing ashore may be done by a consolidated 
plant or by two or more separated plants. The consolidated plant 
can be shifted from place to place as required depths are dredged, 
while its pipe line to the shore (upon pontoons or in very shoal water 
upon stagings) is adjusted accordingly. ** 

Six thousand feet would ordinarily be the economic limit of a pipe 
line; for distances beyond this the plant is generally separated. 

One part becomes (for a time) stationary, is as near as possible to 
the interior limits of the filling, and is alongside a deep basin of its 
own creation. From this basin are pumped by it the dredgings 
brought in self-dumping scows from the other part, the dredger, 
which moves from place to place as necessary. 

Both these methods would be in use in Jamaica Bay. 

Increase in distance of pipe line inshore not only increases the 
cost of pumping, but it also increases the amount of pumping, as the 
farther inshore, the deeper becomes the fill, if the surface grade is 
increased to meet the necessary requirements for sewers. 

In designing the outlines of the three new islands these facts were 
considered, as was the fact that it was desirable that the interior 
should not be at an excessive distance from the water. 

The waterways back of West Island and Middle Channel, between 
North and South islands, not only help to furnish during their con¬ 
struction material for necessary fill, but they make economic pump¬ 
ing possible, and in the case of the latter islands 3,250 feet is the 
greatest distance of any part from the water’s edge. 

CITY WASTES. 

There are at present some 750,000 cubic yards of ashes of the total 
that must be removed from Brooklyn annually that are capable of 
making good filling. 

About 70 per cent of this is taken from the zone between the water 
front and a mile inland, and is in consequence tributary to harbor 
scows. 

Much of this could be taken to Jamaica Bay and pumped ashore, 
where it would be of special use as a covering for sand filling coming 
from the bay, helping it to resist the tendency of the winds to shift 
the original surface? 

The writer would recommend the early purchase by the city of a 
place on the Jamaica Meadows to which the ashes from the twenty- 
sixth ward may be removed. 


88 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


% 


The acquisition of a strip of land about the proposed head of Paer- 
degat basin would not only provide a place for disposing of ashes, 
but also a base for the future disposal or ashes in scows. 

BULKHEADING. * 

Jamaica Bay as a whole fortunately provides favorable conditions 
for the construction of bulkheads and piers. 

In no case has rock been encountered, and the bearing conditions 
for piles are excellent, good holding sand and clay being found near 
the surface. 

Under these circumstances the construction of physical bulkheads 
or sea walls will cost very much less than in many other parts of the 
city. 

Owing to the purity of water in the bay the teredo exists in for¬ 
midable quantities and must be reckoned with. 

Construction work between the bottom and highest water must be 
of timber which has been treated chemically, or else of some more 
enduring material, if it is intended for any degree of permanency. 

While it would be impossible, prior to a thorough examination of 
the strata along the entire proposed bulkhead line, to draw up com¬ 
plete plans for bulkheads in detail, even if such a thing were desirable 
at this time, there are two general classes of construction to which 
the writer would call attention—one a sheet piling and pile bulkhead 
of creosoted and plain timbers combined, which can be put in now 
on an average of $25 per running foot; the other is a more substan¬ 
tial and enduring structure, and consists of hollow reenforced concrete 
blocks filled with sand and topped off with masonry, or concrete with 
masonry face and cap, costing about $60 per running foot. 

For both types he would suggest a general depth alongside, where 
practicable, of 12 feet. 

The blocks should be made at some near-by place where there is 
an abundance of sand, and where the other ingredients may be 
brought at low freight cost. They may either be molded in a float¬ 
ing dry dock, or upon a cradle having horizontal top and inclined 
bottom resting upon a runway leading to the water. Their con¬ 
struction should be such as to have a number of vertical compart¬ 
ments, with bottom, sides, and end. The extreme ends would be 
tongued and grooved, and the bases would be widened by projecting 
toes. They would rest directly on bottom in a dredged trench, care¬ 
fully leveled from above by bucket dredging. In most cases they 
would need no other foundation. In soft bottom they would rest 
upon piles. 

It would be entirely practicable to make them in sections 50 feet 
long, or even longer. When they had become thoroughly set they 
would be removed from the molds, launched, and towed to their 
destination. 

Their sinking can be regulated to a nicety by pumping water into 
the compartments. When they are in place sand would be pumped 
into the compartments, gradually driving out most of the water. ® 

a Where special security against injury from impact by vessels is necessary the 
compartments may be filled with concrete instead of sand. 




REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 89 

reSnesI?^ tongued and grooved they can be laid to a line with 

ch beginning of the work of the 

conditions seem to warrant it, as the work pro- 

^ses the other type could be installed where required. 

ihis can be regulated to the best advantage as the work goes on and 
new conditions develop. s ^ 

It will take a number of years to complete the improvements out¬ 
lined even under the most favorable conditions. 

There has been no question as to the use of timber for piers in the 
port of New York. Structural reasons and the difference in orimnal 
cost have made it desirable to construct of wood, even if the lifetime 
or the latter be relatively short. Moreover, changes in commercial re¬ 
quirements as to piers have outstripped the rate of pier deterioration. 

in the case of construction along the permanent bulkhead lines it is 
somewhat different, and the depletion of our forests and the increasino- 
scarcity of timber will bring more nearly together the original costs of 

^moden and concrete or masonry structures, while the annual cost will 
be m favor of the latter. 

The above makes provision for but a comparatively small depth of 
w^ater alongside the bulkhead. 

By the time piers have been constructed and the draft of vessels 
lying alongside has become so great that their bows or sterns can not 
be brought close up to the bulkhead, space will already have become 
so valuable that the area between the bulkhead and the inshore end 
of the steamer will be in sufficient demand to-call for the building of a 
platform over this space, to be applied to wharf or warehouse pur¬ 
poses. 

The slope from the bulkhead to the deeper water off shore could be 
reinforced with riprap as required. 

In some localities where the natural surface mud is thick and soft, 
and some 5 feet or more of fill is to go on top of it, special provision 
must be made to resist the tendency of the mud to act as a lubricant 
and allow the whole mass to slide horizontally. 


LEGISLATION. 

The congressional district which includes the thirty-first, thirty- 
second, and twenty-sixth wards of Brooklyn, bordering upon the 
ocean and Jamaica Bay, is represented by the Hon. Charles B. Law, 
through whose untiring efforts important legislation has been had 
during the past session. 

While obtaining an appropriation for the deepening of the Coney 
Island channel to 20 feet at low water, the part of his bill which went 
with it originally and provided for a 20-foot entrance to Jamaica Bay 
received an unfavorable report from the army engineers and was not 
reported favorably by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors. 

As soon as it was ascertained that the Rockaway Inlet improve¬ 
ment was not to be taken up by Congress this year Mr. Law drew up 


“The writer has seen similar blocks under construction and in successful use in the 
city of Rotterdam, where’they were as long as 70 feet and as deep as 32 feet. That 
city is contemplating similar blocks 130 feet long in the future. The work is under the 
direction of Chief Engineer H. A. Van Ysselsteyn. 



90 KEPOKT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPEOVEMENT COMMISSION. 

a new bill of a little different nature. This bill Avas presented to the^ 
^‘Jamaica Bay improvement commissioners’^ early in the year, taken 
by Mr. LaAV and two of the commissioners to his honor the mayor, 
and later taken to the commissioner of docks and ferries. Meeting 
with the approval of all, the bill was introduced, was later incorpo¬ 
rated in the rh^ers and harbors act, and became a law. 

It carries with it an appropriation, and provides for the examination 
of Jamaica Bay, Rockaway Inlet, and Dead Horse Inlet by the War 
Department, with a view to framing a plan of improvement, the order 
of such improvement, its'cost, and proportions of cost that should be 
borne by the city of New York and by the Federal Government. 
(See Appendix No. 10, Ford Report.) 

The act further provides for conference and cooperation between 
the War Department, through the army engineers, and corresponding 
representatives of the city of New York. 

The work contempleted will be of tAvo kinds—the creation of chan¬ 
nels and the reclamation of land. 

The treatment and care of the land to be reclaimed will be a 
duty beyond the province of the War Department. Should it become 
a duty of the municipality, the work of constructing bulkheads, piers, 
etc., will be executed by the engineers in the city’s employ. 

The plan and scope of these interior improvements Avill, presumably, 
be made in a large measure to conform to the wishes of the city’s 
officials, subject to agreement as to participation in costs. 

On the other hand, the creation of the exterior channel, the entrance 
to the bay, Avill be a duty beyond the province of the city of New 
York. It will become a duty of the War Department, and Avill be 
executed by the army engineers, who alone will be held responsible 
for it, whatever part of its cost, if any, may be borne by the city of 
New York. 

A.—Pkoviding and Maintaining an Adequate Entrance into 

THE Bay. 

Upon this hangs the future success of Jamaica Bay as a harbor. 
It Avill rise or fall as the entrance is made good or becomes poor.- 

Undoubtedly the army engineers will do their full duty in the 
matter, and the Avriter does not feel that this commission should lay 
doAvn a rule of procedure for them in this report, nor that the city 
should commit itself to any policy of inlet improvement prior to its 
conference Avith the War Department’s representatives 

On the other hand, the Avriter believes that the city’s tentative 
indorsement of some plan of interior deA^elopment (demonstrating 
thereby its good faith in asking for gOA^ermental aid) would materially 
strengthen its case. 

Table of quantities. 

Amount of dredging, 281,500,000 cubic yards. 

Amount of filling, 280,000,000 cubic yards. 

Number of acres to be bought (estimated), 6,800. 

Total acres to be reclaimed, 15,920. 

Total miles of bulkheading (301,975 linear feet), 57.19. 

Total miles of wharfage available for deep draught vessels, 126.9. 

Wharfage along Inland Channel used as canal only (exclusive of basin), 34,175 
linear feet. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 91 


( 


Additional wharfage available in Inland Channel (exclusive of basin) later on if 
esired through use of skew piers, 16,587 linear feet. 

Wliarfage in Inland Basin (16 feet), 33,000 linear feet. 

Total wharfage, 83,762 linear feet, or 15.86 miles. 

Wharfage along ordinary canals (12 feet), 44,150 linear feet, or 8.36 miles. 

Quay wall wharfage available south and southeast of West Island, 10,300 linear feet, 
»r 1.95 miles. 

Repair basins, 2. 

Summary of available wharfage. 

Miles. 

Vharfage available for deep, medium, and light draft (25 feet or better).126. 90 

dediumand light draft (16 feet). 15. 86 

L/ight draft (12 feet).. 8. 36 

south and southeast side of West Island..*. 1. 95 


Total wharfage. 153. 07 

This is upon the basis as to the deep water sections of width of 
piers and width of slip similar to that of the Chelsea district, Man¬ 
hattan, viz: Width of pier 125 feet and width of slip 250 feet, and 
in the Inland Channel, width of pier 60 feet and width of slip 140 
feet. All the above being measured at right angles. 

Should less generous pier width and slip room be given, the total 
wharfage mileage would be increased accordingly. The above does 
not take into consideration any available wharfage or bulkheading on 
the south side of Beach Channel. 


Cost of improvemetit. 
(Exclusive of entrance to harbor.) 


281,500,000 cubic yards of dredging, at 12 cents per cubic yard. $33, 780,000 

301,975 linear feet of bulkhead, at $25 per foot. 7,549,375 

Engineering, inspection, and administration, estimated at. 1, 000, 000 

6,800 acres of land, at $700 per acre. 4, 760, 000 


Total estimated cost. 47,089,375 


To balance this expenditure there would be 15,920 acres of reclaimed 
land completely inclosed witfiin bulkheads, which at but $5,000 per 
acre would aggregate in round numbers $80,000,000, together with 
one of the most extensive of deep-water harbors, capable of accom¬ 
modating over 150 miles of vessels. 

It would appear a reasonable proposition that as the work pro¬ 
gressed the city could realize a profit upon some of the lands reclaimed, 
and turn the moneys thus acquired over to the improvement fund. 

An annual expenditure of from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 would 
be all that would be required at the beginning of the work. 

ACQUIRING OTHER PROPERTY. 

As to the subject second in order, the acquiring of dock property 
etc., in the boroughs, except Manhattan: 

The writer would recommend the continuation of the city’s acquisi¬ 
tion of available shore front south of Erie basin (except the highly 
developed), along the lines of the department of docks and ferries, 

whose policy is heartily indorsed. 

This is the only recommendation he feels he can make with propriety 
at this time, as the problem first in order, Jamaica Baj, has necessarily 
absorbed most of his attention during the very limited period given 
for the consideration of such important subjects. 














92 BEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


CONCLUSION. 


In conclusion the writer would recommend that the improvement 
should be done as a whole, whether it be done entirely by the city or 
by the city and individuals combined. 

That, should the city of itself feel it unwise to develop all of these 
lowlands, in no event should it fail to acquire the water front and a 
zone deep enough to control the first two blocks inshore. 

That it should adopt, with the approval of the War Department, 
some definite plan of interior improvement, capable of meeting the 
requirements of the present' generation, without circumscribing those 
of the ones to follow, and that it should in the near future prescribe 
regulations necessary for its enforcement. 

Eespectfully, 

William G. Ford, 
Consulting Engineer, Commissioner, 

New York City, May 27,1907. 

Ford Report—Appendix 1. 


Showing growth of 'population of New York City since 1800. 


Year. 

Population. 

Increase. 

1800.. 

79,216 
119,734 
152,056 
242,278 

391.114 

696.115 
1,174,779 
1,478,103 
1,911,698 
2,507,414 
3,437,202 
4,013,781 


1810. 

40,518 
32,322 
90,222 
148,836 
305,001 
478,664 
303,324 
433,595 
595,716 
929,788 
576,579 

1820. 

1830. 

1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

1900... 

1905. 



Present rate of gain, 3.35 per cent per annum. 


Ford Report—Appendix 2. 

Total values, merchandise, 1875-1905, showing value of merchandise imported and exported 

by way of New York and other seaports. 

[From Statistical Abstract of the United States.] 


City. 

1875. 

1880. 

1885. 

1890. 

1895. 

New York. 

Boston and Charlestown. 

Philadelphia. 

Baltimore. 

New Orleans. 

Galveston. 

Mobile o. 

$619,570,118 
82,751,284 
62,550 932 
55,325,373 
83,892,194 
17,221,201 

$852,497,243 
127,741,477 
85,594,193 
96,191,859 
101,053,372 
17 844,403 

$724,592,509 
115,446,032 
68,642,280 
56,902,600 

87.836.524 

13.836.524 

$865,478,484 
134,078,610 
91,346.998 
87,123,890 
122,785,054 
24,81.2,623 
3,479,444 
31,356.794 
14,435,395 
.3,474.286 

$803,321,190 
152,394,314 
83,845,769 
74,199,697 
82,274,869 
42,256,226 
6,182,584 
20,949,441 
11,379,223 
3,242,975 

Savannah. 

Charleston.. 

Pensacola. 

30,422,567 

20,-336,309 

24,476,166 
19,793,917 

21.524,071 
19,329,467 




















































7 



UIOMW «. OIUMM CO. 


I. M0T0-u™00«l»«»«. ft 


House Doc. No. /<5(96'; 60th Cong., 2d Sess. 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































KEPOET OF JAMAICA BAY IMPKOVEMENT COMMISSION 


93 


Total values, merchandise, 1875-1905, showing value of merchandise imported and exported 
by way of New York and other seaports —Continued. 

[From Statistical Abstract of the United States—Continued.] 


City. 


New York. 

Boston and Charlestown 

Philadelphia. 

Baltimore. 

New Orleans. 

Galveston. 

Mobile o. 

Savannah. 

Charleston. 

Pensacola. 


1900. 

1905. 

Gain in 
thirty years. 

Percentage 
of gain. 

$1,056,071,753 

$1,204,355,261 

$584.785,143 

94.4 

184,391,494 

188,122,373 

105,371,089 

127.3 

130,272,033 

123.458,971 

60,908.039 

97.4 

134,575,657 

112,396.297 

57,070.924 

103.2 

133,349,575 

184,870,245 

100,978,051 

120.4 

87,111,069 

131,174, 404 

113,953,203 

661.7 

16,090,268 

22,326,320 

b 18,846,575 

b 541. 7 

38,682,021 

63,733,529 

33,310,962 

109.2 

8,276,391 

5,836,881 

014.449,428 

071.3 

14,489,980 

16,338,125 

612,863,839 

b 370.3 


a Particularly on account of lumber trade, which will diminish as the years go by. 
& In fifteen years, t , 

c Loss. 


Ford Report—Appendix 3. 


Total tonnage, 1875-1905, foreign trade {not including coastwise) showing tonnage move¬ 
ment at New York as compared with other seacoast ports. 

[From Statistical Abstract of the United States.] 


City. 

1875. 

1880, 

1885. 

1890. 

1895. 

Nftw York . 

8,732,.507 

15,041,084 

11,100,457 

12,283,740 

13,188,085 

"Rntiton . 

1,401,551 
1,206,480 

2,583,099 

2,127,910 

2,613,335 

3,115,478 

Philadelnhia . 

2,631,676 

1,959,443 

1,366,442 

2,530,094 

2,711,433 

1,708,257 

RaltiTnore. 

i;116,782 

2,993,773 

1,969,501 

New Orleans. 

977,590 

1,619,675 

1,331,697 

2,035,072 

343,575 

1,997,769 

Oalvest.nn . . 

219,492 

216,979 

185,099 

186,268 

767,629 

Vfnhilp. ... 

107,302 

352,443 

130,652 

254,012 

501,969 

532,398 

Savannah. 

353,987 

264,501 

362,152 

538,199 

P.harle.st.on. 

221,297 

273,-539 

207,679 

206,880 

Pensaenla 0879). 

362,325 

509,618 

458,141 

815,778 

703,380 






[From Statistical Abstract of the United States—Continued.] 


City. 

1900. 

1905. 

Gain in 
thirty 
years. 

Per¬ 
centage 
of gain. 


16,020,290 

18,942,380 

10,209,873 

3,285,842 

116.8 


4,145,187 

3,736,615 

4,687,393 

234.4 


3,651,624 

2,445,144 

202.6 


3,452,654 

3,395,442 

2,474,658 

1,357,876 

121.6 


3,778,245 

2,800,655 

286.5 


l;«41,500 

1,965,784 

1,741,792 

796.6 


1,054,471 

1,216,332 

luy^ 031 

*1,033.5 
71.1 
6 41.2 
146.9 


611,123 

603,069 

250,626 


147,652 

130,141 

b 91,156 


1,115,382 

894,604 

c.532,279 


— 




o Particularly on accormt of the lumber trade, which will diminish as the years go by. 


b Loss. 

e Twenty-six years. 











































































94 KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


Ford Report—Appendix ^ 


Showing population of twenty largest cities in the United States. 

[Taken from 1900 Census Reports.] 

No. 

City. 

Population 

1 

New York. 

3,437,202 

2 

Chicago. 

l'698;575 

3 

Philadelphia. 

1)293^697 

4 

St. Louis. 

'575^238 

6 

Boston. 

560,892 

6 

Baltimore. 

508^957 

7 

Cleveland. 

381^768 

8 

Buffalo. 

352'387 

9 

San Francisco. 

342'782 

10 

Cincinnati.*. 

325^902 

11 

Pittsburg. 

321 ,'616 

12 

New Orleans. 

287^104 

13 

Detroit. 

285i704 

14 

Milwaukee. 

285^315 

15 

Washington. 

278^718 

16 

Newark. 

246,070 

17 

Jersey City. 

206^433 

18 

Louisville. 

204^7^ 

19 

Minneapolis. 

202'718 

20 

Providence. 

a 175,597 




o Now 200,000. 


Ford Report—Appendix 5. 

Extracts from paper of Maj. David Du Gaillard, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, 
presented before the International Engineers’ Congress, 1904, and published as paper 
No. 13, in Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume LIV, 
Part A, and published between pages 279 and 296, inclusive. 

DULUTH-SUPERIOR HARBOR, MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN. 

A. 

Duluth-Superior Earhor .—Situated at the head of Lake Superior, this is the most 
important harbor on the Great Lakes on account of its size, the magnitude of its marine 
conimerce, and its facilities for handling vessel freight. The established dock lines 
of the harbor have a frontage of 49 miles in all. 

In 1903 but one harbor (New York) in the entire United States and all of its detached 
possessions equaled Duluth-Superior harbor in the volume of its monthly marine 
commerce. 

The harbor embraces the Duluth Canal, Superior Entry, Superior Bay, Allouez 
. Bay, St. Louis Bay, and St. Louis River to the limits of the cities of Duluth and 
Superior, about 20 miles from Superior Entry. (See fig. 1, PL XX.) The natural 
entrance from Lake Superior to Superior Bay, now known as Superior Entry, was a 
widening channel, difficult to follow, over a shifting sand bar, and had an available 
depth varying from 9 to 11 feet. 

The bays before improvement were broad expanses of shallow water about 8 or 9 
feet in depth, except along the channel through them, where the depth was greater 
but variable. The interior basin is separated from the lake by a remarkable “spit” 
of wave formation 9 miles long and of an average width of about 200 yards, which 
forms a perfect natural breakwater. * * * 

The improvements undertaken by the United States at this period (1873) afforded 
a navigable depth of about 12 feet, which was deemed sufficient for the needs of com¬ 
merce at the time. The increase of commerce, however, soon necessitated fui’ther 
improvement of the harbor. This was authorized by the act of Congress approved 
March 3, 1881, and a new project was prepared which provided for seeming 16-foot 
navigation throughout the harbor and its two entrances. This project was completed 
in July, 1897, the desired depth having been obtained. The width of the dredged 
channels varied from 85 to 300 feet. 

But the needs of commerce demanded further improvements, which were author¬ 
ized by the act of June 3, 1896, and by modifications of August 14, 1896, Mav 9. 1901, 





























KEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPEOVEMENT COMMISSTON. 


95 


providing for the widening and deepening to a navigable depth of 
-0 leet of the existing channels, for new channels in Allouez Bay and St. Louis 
^ extensive turning and anchorage basins of a navigable depth of 20 feet 
at the junctions of two or more channels, for widening the Duluth Canal, and for 
rebuilding the piers at the Duluth Canal and at Superior Entry. * * * 

Marine c(mmerce of Duluth-Su'perior Harbor. —The vessel freight received and shipped 
Harbor has increased from 2,848,672 tons (of 2,000 pounds) in 1890 
$177,594,212, in 1903. Among the items for 1903 are 
in oo5’5?2 bushels of barley, oats, rye, wheat, corn, and flax, 4,219,211 tons of coal, 
10,387,4 d 7 tons of iron ore, and 407,416,000 feet b. m. of pine lumber. * * * 

The vessel freight handled in this harbor in eight months is so enormous that it is 
aitticult for the mind to grasp its volume. Some appreciation of its magnitude may 
be obtained if we suppose it all to be loaded on ordinary freight cars, 40,000 pounds 
to the car, and the cars themselves to be placed on the track as closely as possible 
to one another. So arranged, the 900,000 cars required would occupy every foot of 
sp^e on a double-track railroad extending from New York City to San Francisco 
^ Cost of improvements, Duluth-Superior Harbor.—Ymm the commencement of opera¬ 
tions by the United States in 1867 to December 31, 1903, $4,590,905.16 have been 
expended by the United States in the improvement of Duluth-Superior Harbor, and 
during the same period the vessel freight arrived and departed had aggregated about 
138,930,884 tons (of 2,000 pounds), valued at $1,986,847,470. * * * 

EFFECT OF HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS UPON TRANSPORTATION METHODS, TONNAGE, AND 

FREIGHT RATES. 


B. 

It is difficult to realize the enormous growth of the marine commerce of the Great 
Lakes during recent years, and especially remarkable has been the development on 
Lake Superior. In 1883 the total amount of freight passing through both the United 
States and the Canadian canals at Sault Ste. Marie, which is an accurate measure 
of the volume of through-vessel freight on Lake Superior, aggregated 2,267,105 tons 
fof 2,000 pounds). In 1893 this freight had increased to 10,796,572 tons, while in 
1903 it reached the enormous total of 34,674,437 tons, over 85 per cent of which was 
en route to or from Lake Erie ports. * * * 


C. 

The increase of depth obtained by means of government improvement has had a 
marked effect upon transportation methods, and has resulted in a steady increase 
in the size of vessels and consequently of their carrying capacity. In 1883 the aver¬ 
age cargo carried by vessels passing through the Sault Ste. Marie canals was 473 tons 
(of 2,000 pounds); in 1893 it was 899 tons, and in 1903, 1,865 tons. The latest and 
largest type of lake ore carrier is 560 feet long, 56 feet beam, 33 feet deep, and is de¬ 
signed to carry 12,500 tons. * * * 

With increase of depth and growth of commerce equal progress has been made in 
improving facilities for handling freight until at the present time vessels are loaded 
and unloaded on the Great Lakes with a rapidity unequaled at our ocean ports; for 
example, a cargo of 5,217 tons of iron ore was loaded on a vessel in Duluth-Superior 
Harbor in a little less than thirty-one minutes, and unloaded at Conneaut, Ohio, in 
three hours fifty-five minutes. 

Wffien the depths were small and the carrying capacities limited vessel owners 
endeavored to compensate for limited carrying capacity by employing steamers to 
tow one or more barges or schooners. In 1870 the number of schooners, barges, etc., 
passing through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie was more than three times greater 
than the number of steamers; in 1880 the two classes of vessels were equal in number, 
while in 1903 the steamers outnumbered the towed vessels nearly in proportion of 
4 to 1. There are now no sailing vessels, except small pleasure craft, on Lake Superior. 

The present tendency of interlake transportation is unquestionably toward single 
carriers of large capacity and moderate speed, constructed with numerous hatches to 
facilitate the operation of loading and unloading. 

D. 

Due to increased depth, to the resulting increase in the capacity of vessels, and to 
improved appliances for handling freight, there has been a steady, but somewhat 
irregular, reduction in freight rates on the Great Lakes. In 1887 the average haul for 


96 REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 


all freight passing through the Sault Ste, Marie canals was 811.4 miles, and the aver¬ 
age freight charge per ton per mile 2.3 mills. In 1903 the average haul was 835.6 
miles, and the average freight charge per ton-mile was 0.92 mill. Notwithstanding 
the low freight rate, freight charges amounting to $26,727,735 were paid in 1903 upon 
the total freight passing through the two canals at Sault Ste. Marie. 

E. 

m 

Cost of harbor improvements on Lake Superior, and financial effect of same. —It will 
be seen from Table 19 that up to January 1, 1904, the sum of $8,132,822.98 had been 
spent upon the improvement, maintenance, and operation of the United States 
harbors on Lake Superior, and that during the same period the vessel freight handled 
at these harbors aggregated 284,397,822 tons (of 2,000 pounds), valued at $3,241,139,028. 

From these figures it can be shown that the total sum expended upon the various 
harbors on Lake Superior since the commencement of improvements by the United 
States, if imposed as a tonnage tax, would have amounted to 2.86 cents per ton of vessel 
freight and corresponds to about one-fourth of 1 per cent of the money value of this 
freight. 

The reduction in freight rate per ton mile on all Lake Superior freight since 1887 
has been 1.38 mills, a reduction which, if applied to the volume of freight carried 
in United States vessels through the canals*at Sault Ste. Marie in 1903, would amount 
to $37,780,342, a saving in one year more than four and a half times greater than the 
cost of all United States improvements on Lake Superior from 1867 to January 1, 1904. 

As wages, fuel, oil, and other operating expenses are fully as high at the present 
time as in 1887, this decrease in freight rates must be due primarily to the following 
causes: (a) Government improvement of the rivers and harbors on the Great Lakes 
and their connecting waterways, and (b) improved facilities for loading, unloading, 
and handling vessels. 

While it can not be stated definitely exactly what proportion of this annual saving 
of $37,780,342 in freight, as compared with freight charges in 1887, is attributable 
to river and harbor improvements on Lake Superior alone, yet it is safe to say that 
the amount thereby saved each year exceeds the aggregate cost of all river and harbor 
improvements on Lake Superior during the past thirty-seven years. 

The sa\ang in vessel freight, however, represents but a small part of the benefit 
accruing from government improvements on the Great Lakes. Water competition 
has cheapened freight rates by rail over thousands of miles of railroad; the develop¬ 
ment and growth of many cities, and of a huge territory has been greatly facilitated 
by lake commerce, and millions of dollars of capital have found profitable invest¬ 
ment in vessels, docks, shipyards, elevators, warehouses, etc., along the shores of 
the lakes. 

The value of the United States craft passing through the canals at Sault Ste. Marie 
has risen from $2,089,400 in 1887 to $68,252,800 in 1903, and the safety of this immense 
fleet and its cargo, valued at $330,254,618, has been greatly enhanced by the num¬ 
ber of excellent and well-lighted harbors which have been constructed by the United 
States on Lake Superior. 

Taking into consideration all advantages resulting from the improvement of the 
rivers and harbors of the Great Lakes, and of their connecting waterways, it is doubt¬ 
ful whether any like sum expended by the Government during the same period has 
brought in quicker returns or has more richly repaid the original investment. 

Ford Report—Appendix 6. 

DESCRIPTION OF UNDEVELOPED SECTIONS OF NEW YORK CITY WATER FRONT. 

From Throggs Neck to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad terminal at 
Oak Point. —The majority of this is shoal water in bays, between high-ground penin¬ 
sulas, having depths of from 2 to 6 feet at low water. It is probable that rock will be 
encountered in dredging in this vicinity. 

Little Neck Bay lies partly within and partly without the limits of the city. The 
northerly part of the bay has from 7 to 10 feet of water, and the southerly half from 
2 to 5 feet. 

Fort Totten takes up a considerable amount (about one-fourth) of the available city 
frontage. 

Willets Point to Astoria.—Little Bay, just west of Willets Point, is shoal, having 
from 4 to 9 feet of water. West of this comes the deep-water frontage of Whitestone 
with very little development. 


REPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 97 


Prom Whitestone Point to College Point the water is generally shoal, but at Tail- 
mans Island and at College Point itself the distance to deep water is not great. From 
College Point to Lawrences Point through and including Flushing Bay there is very 
shoal water a long distance out from the shore, and extensive dredging would be 
required here, hrom Lawrences Point to Astoria there is very good water, but the 
channel is narrow here and the pier line is forced close to the shore. 

Ravenswood .—The channel is very narrow and the pier line is almost coincident 
with the shore line. 

Staten Island —Between Tompkinsville and Quarantine there is some good available 
shore front, only part of which is developed. 

A considerable part of the Kill von Kull is partially improved. The pier line does 
not extend out very far from the shore. 

By far the larger part of Arthur Kill is undeveloped. About two-thirds of the shore 
front belonging to New York is meadow land. A very large traffic from the railroad 
coal ports goes through this river. 

Gravesend Bay is mostly undeveloped. Its southerly end would require extensive 
dredging. 

Ford Report—Appendix 7. 

[Extract from report on “Le port de Rotterdam,” par H. A. ve.n Ysselsteyn, ing6nieur, sous-directeur 

des travaux de la ville de Rotterdam.] 

Increase in tonnage in ten years. 

[Tonnage given in 1,000 kilograms.] 



1893. 

1903. 

Gain. 

T.ondon.. ... 

13,950,000 
7,892,000 
7,124,000 
2,990,000 
2,430,000 
3,500,000 

17,075,000 

10,992,000 

9,071,000 

3,900,000 

3,270,000 

7,020,000 

Per cent. 
22.8 

Tvivpmnnl _ _ 


39.4 

Cardiff. 

35.7 

(ilasgow. 

30.2 

Hull’ . 

34.8 

Rotterdam. 

113.8 




Ford Report—Appendix 8. 


Growth of Cunard Line steamships, 1840-1905. 
[See p. 4, Am. Soc. of C. E., Vol. LIV, Part F (1905).] 


Vessel or type. 

Date. 

Approxi¬ 

mate 

length. 

Gross ton¬ 
nage. 

Tons per 
foot length. 

Rritnnnia . 

1840 

212.5 

1,139 

6.36 

Ttihpmia . 

1843 

230 

1,422 

6.18 

\ ... 

1848 

251 

1,825 

7.27 


1850 

270 

2,226 

2,402 

8.25 

Arnl'viji . 

1852 

294 

8.17 

. 

1855 

385 

3,300 

8.57 

Snntia . 

1802 

387. 5 

3,871 

9.99 

CliinBr ■ - . 

1802 

337.5 

2,539 

7. 53 


1805 

344 

2,697 

7.84 

RnQ«ifi. . 

1807 

373 

2,959 

7. 93 

. 

1874 

435 

4,556 

4,808 

10. 47 

rioiiia . 

1879 

445 

10.80 


1881 

635 

7,391 

1.3. 81 


1882 

- 485 

7,268 

14. 99 


1884 

520 

8,127 

15. 45 


1893 

025 

12,500 

20. 00 


1905 

675 

21,000 

31.11 







H. Doc. 1506, 60-2—09-7 













































98 REPORT OF JAMATOA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION 


Ford Report—Appendix 9, 


Stratification of Jamaica Bay. 

[Extract from records of '“Boriags in the Vicinity of Jamaica Bay/’ taken from report of Mr. A. C. 
Veatch, of the United States Geological Survey, upon ‘’Underground AVater Resources of Long Island, 
New York,” published 1906.] 


Well 

No. 

Location. 

Depth 

(feet). 

Materials. 

132 

Barren Island. 

0-135 

Medium fine gray sand. 

133 

Crooks Island. 

0- 95 
95-115 

Fine gray sand. 

Brown mediiun sand. 

193 

Hooks Creek. 

0- 

-140 

Sand-quicksand. 

A Itemate layers of sand and clay; brackish water. 

272 

Near head of bay. 


Mr. Jaegel reports that the marsh deposits in this 
well were about 10 feet thick, below which there 
was 15 feet of fine dark-colored sand, the re¬ 
mainder of well being through an alternation of 
lead-colored sand and clays. 

273 

Queens County pumping station. 

6- 10 

10- 32 

33- 35 

35- 54 

54- 7() 

76- 95 

95-100 

-no 

Gray silty sand and gravel, with large percentage 
of biotite. 

While to light-yellow quartz and gravel, with 
only small percentage glacial material. 

Blue gravelly clay. 

Dirty-gray sand and gravel. 

Blue clay. 

Fine, graj^ pepper-and-salt sand, composed of a 
mixture of white quartz and greensand, weath¬ 
ering to reddish-yellow. 

Light j^ellowish-white sand and gravel; no green 
sand. 

Lignite. 

187 

Far Rockawav. 

0- 42 

42- (>6 

66- 88 
88-112 

Water-bearing strata; almost clear gravel. 

Clay. 

Black sand and good water. 

No record. 

188 

Far Rockawav. 

0- 25 

25- 45 

45- 65 
65-180 

180-190 

Fine beach sand. 

Coarse sand and gravel. 

Blue clay: no stones. 

Fine gravel and sand with brackish water (this 
layer furnished but a small quantity of water). 
Coarse gravel with a vigorous supply of salty 
water. 

189 

Far Rockaway. 

0- 2 

2- 30 

Ordinary soil; sandy loam. 

Fine sand with no gravel except in streaks. 

135 

New Lots—East New York. 

0- 4 

4- 12 

12- 70 

70- 72 

72- 93 
93-113 
113-118 

Peat. 

Gray sandy clay with gravel. 

Light, muiti-colored, fine to coarse glacial sand. ' 
Light-gray clay. 

Fine to medium light-yellow glacial sand. 
Reddish-brown, fine to coarse glacial sand. 
Light-gray gravellv clav. 

136 

Brooklyn lest well No. 17. 

0- 8 

8- 70 

70- 95 
95-106 

106-128 

128-140 

Yellow loamy sand. 

Light, reddish-brown, fine to coarse, speckled 
sand. 

Light-yellow sand and pebbles (orange sand). 
Dark-gray clay, with vegetable matter (swamp 
deposit). 

Light yellow fine to medium sand. 

Fine, dark, reddish-brown glacial sand. 

200 

Baislev’s pumping station. 

0- 21.5 

21.5- 34 

34- 39 

39- 58 

58- 77.5 

77.5- 97. 5 
97. 5-103 

103-106 

Yellowish sand and gravel. 

Fine yellow sand. 

Coarse yellowish sand. 

Fine yellowish sand. 

Gray sand and gravel. 

Gray sand. 

Yellowish sand and gravel. 

Yellowish sand, gravel, and clay. 

196 

Springfield pmnping station. 

0- 74 

Sand. 



74-182 

Blue clay with wood and sand. 































EEPORT OF JAMAICA BAY IMPROVEMENT COMMISSION. 99 


Ford Report—Appendix 10. 

EXTRACT FROM THE RIVER AND HARBOR BILL, 1907. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, * * * 

_ Sec. 3. That the Secretary of War is hereby directed to cause preliminary examina¬ 
tions or surveys to be made at the following localities: 

New Ycrl'. —The waters of Jamaica Bay, including entrance to said bay at Rockaway 
Inlet and those waters having their outlet in Dead Horse Inlet, with a view to framing 
a plan for their improvement and recommending the order of such improvement with 
the cost thereof, and to recommend the proportion of such cost to be borne by the city 
of New York; and the Secretary of War is hereby requested to confer and cooperate 
with the commissioner of docks and ferries of the city of New York, or with any duly 
authorized agents, officers, or representatives of the city of New York, and with any 
commission of engineers appointed, or.who shall hereafter be appointed, to survey or 
examine said bay and to recommend to the city of New York plans for the improve¬ 
ment of said Jamaica Bay or the lands in and about said bay. * * * 


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